UC-NRLF 


^B    Efi    3Mb 


■ 


I^X        N^ 


LIBRARY 

OF   THK 

University  of  California. 


'/ 


Received    v:^^  Q^j^^xp^csy ,  i8g 

Accession  No.  u^^^^  .       Cla&s  No. 


^T7/ 


%^r<^ 


Hr.  9(.  ^^uu^cMl,  Jl.  B., 


122  TURK  STREET, 


SAN    FRANCignD. 


9  to  10  a.  m. 
r  to  S  p.  in. 
7  t»  7.  SO  p.  m. 


A  CONSIDERATION 


OF  THE 


WEALTH  AND  POVERTY 


OF 


NATIONS 


EMBRACING  ALSO  THE 


EVOLUTION    OF   INDUSTRY 


AND    ITS 


o  uxco  ]vr  E  . 


Bv  W.  N.  GRISWOLD,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 


If  we  can  first   know  where  we  are  and  whither  we  are  tending,  we  can 
better  judge  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it. — Abraham  Lincoln. 


SAN    FRANCISCO, 

THE  BANCROFT  COMPANY. 

1887. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1887, 

By  WOLCOTT  NOBLE  GRISWOLD, 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Jcongress,  at  Washington. 


o 

§ 

o 

W 

H 

O 


C 

g 

03 


0 
> 

o 

CL 

c 

00 


CO 
0 


^       0 


c 
.o 

"c5 
0 

c 
o 

O 


i 

o 

M 


2    fl    ®  o 

'2    a,  ^  J7  rt 

rt      as      rt  ^    'S 

^  S  "^  s  s 

«+H        g        §  §        O 


5*     -2                   "^  ??      rfl 

d    ©      .    o  .S^  ^ 

•>  U  M  ^  top  o 

TJ    H    £h    o  — ' 

O     fcH    J:^  c3     ® 

O     Oh    ^  J    !S 

S  .2  '^  ^  3   o^ 

a  §3  ^  ^  2  '^ 

0) 


c8 


??    O.  -rt    P 


^    ^ 


fl  «2  .^    5 


_.     .b     «4-.      -»^     r^     "S 


03    "73 


s  3  :s  -E  ■§  c  . 

^-  i  i  I  I  2  .1 "?  i  -s 


^     <a    n£ 


■§  ^  3 

;r;      vw      <p      rt  ,— h  .Th 

^      si      r-i      .ti  'i         O      —rf 

I  i  §  •§  I  ^  5  I  3  i  > 

.|   o   g   I   c^  -  -     .  ^.  - 


r^         6 


>•«♦-(  OS  JH 

^  «  i  ^ 


C3     s- 


I    "-<    .5  -^  CO  (33  c8  O)  IJ3 

CO  ^  _rH  'Im  Si  -rH 

.1  I  5  I  »  I  t.  r 

I       o  03  C8  TO  i^ 


^    f.-i:   ^-^   SZ   ^    9.    "^         r^ 

as 


^  o3  t>  «= 

^  fl  fl  o 

N  2  S  ^ 

S  ^  -o  -^ 


-  ^  "C  ^ 

fi    ^    o 
bo     ^  •  rt  "^^ 


ee  ^ 

?§  -g 

«3  jr" 

Ti  o 

- 1 

rj  CO 
N 

CD  u 


&«    CO    .^      3  CO      c3 


"  ^  t?  ..  ^  _ 

••     •'-'3  O       'V  _H       03     K^       H     .Jin      +3 

>^'^r«<X)CO         «^C3  I— I        03        ^H        CO 


o 


OS     (X)     ro     (D  fl  > 


*^  ■£  "^  '" 

o3  '(T)  p3  (u 

q  1^ 

.2  a>  -g  ^ 

-fJ    43  -»^  73  "^ 

•  ^    O  s-  fl  « 

fH     q;  o  c8  P 


CO 


^  § 

I  § 

CO       r^ 


O)     o 

s  I  § 

o    s    c 


n 

t— I    ^ 

o 


O       +3 


CO 


2    2^ 

<D      j^      S-i 

p.  o.m 


'^  2 

-^  Q 

o  o 

Oh  Oi 


"  '^  ^  -^  t:^  -«  '^  ^  «< 
„  'S  ^  l>  2  .«  ^ 


^  2 


§1  leg  B  i^  .^g^^  ° 

'  g  .-g  ^    S  ^  ^  o  .2  ^  -^  '60 
^i   -^   J  g   .-     O     c:3   -^   3     ^ 


«  -E  2  .S  '^  _ 

ib  I'  S.  ^  ^  ^  I  '^  ^"^  2  '^ 


i  f  3    o    S  ^  ^  15 


02       0) 


,9     fl 


S    ^    .O    '^      ff 

o    "^    ^   .-:,     ce    -J:^ 

03 


0 


^     fl     ^     c3    .2 

'^    J    re     ^ 

II 111  §-s  §  §  !, 

g   S   I  -   -^  -^  1 1   ^ 

£  I  ^  s  i  i  =^  .5  1 


CO 

03 


o3     o 


B  -So 


CD 


'^    '^      rt 


•1-H 

a 

o 
o 


'^  ^  B 
«  «  * 

!3 
O 


o 
o 


"*^  «*-!  _S  2 

«    "^  ^    o  t 

■4^-4^  CO       M  I— I        c3      

"^     c3  O     ^  O    ^  ^ 

g^^  g^-^  ^t  S. 

^  ^  ^-^  ^  '-^  -^  • - 

S  M     ^  «       fl  ^ 

??  .b     fl  '=^      c3  3 


o    o 
6  '^ 

3 


1.3 

f  .1  .&  fo 
js  'j:i   -^    ^ 

^  -  * 


3  § 


if 


ft 
1^' 


ft 
o 

I— t 


3     03     o  S  O 

.B  ^  t,  -^  -^ 

-^  J  ^  §  a 

o 


f io  -£§^  «r 


S  5 


.2    2    ^  'S   o 
;r5  --J    ^  es    a, 

(3j      03      5      (J3      oj 


•J3     Q 


bJO 


a 


(©       CO 


O 


^ 


(^ 


3  8  ^  •"  J  o -^ 


fc<      O      c3      O) 


o  a  ^  p.  fl  ^ 

Sh  (D 

ess     cS   ^     >. 


•73 


"^    -    "^    -i 
S^    J5     5=     M 

o    s    03    a> 


Pi 


c80 


«P"a  S 


OQ 


KRRAXA. 

Page    1,  line  27 — Kead  harmony  for  law. 

12,     "  24 —     "    characterizing  for  describing. 

20 — Place  *,  now  at  line  10,  at  line  20. 

54,  lines  23  and  24 — Read  rights  for  duties. 

54.     "  26  and  27 —     "     wealth  and  power  iox  industrial  rights. 

54,     "  29  and  34 —     "    equity  iov  duly. 

54,  line  32— Read  curreMt  for  correct. 

59,      "  11 —     "     should  he  ior  is. 

80— Eliminate  the  last  seven  lines. 

105,  line  28— 'Read  productively  for  industrially. 

105,     "  32 —     "    production  for  industry. 

105,  "  38— Eliminate  sentence  commencing  7%e  most  noted  writers. 

106,  "  9— Read  motive  for  e/or^. 
112,      "  6—     '•     Lincoln  iov  Seward. 
112,     "  8 —     '      and  Seioard  proclaimed. 

139,  "  27— Eliminate  will. 

140,  "  1— Read  may  for  mws^. 
142,     "  42 —     "     employes  for  employers. 
144,     "  42  -     "     national  for  natural. 
158,     ''  25 —     "    producers  for  consumers. 
158,     "  30 —     "     exchequers  for  exchanges. 

167,  "  last —     "    public  for  private. 

168,  "  5 —     "     national  for  natural. 
168,     "  27 —     "    service  of  the  citizen. 
174,     "  22— Eliminate  at  once. 
174,     "  28 — Read  of  production  for  upon. 
184,     "  40 —     "     as  for  when. 
205,     "  14—     '•     those  for  that. 
205,     "  30 —     "    concentrate  for  centre. 
207,     "  29 —     '*     the  industry  concerned. 
214,     "  4 —     "     /2m2Y  the  demands  of  capitalists. 
222,     '•  11—     "     talk  for  prate. 

222,  "       1  (of  note) — Read  prate  for  talk. 

223,  "  44 — Read  the  necessary  productive  forces. 

225.  "  5 —     "     The  reader  knows. 

226,  "  26— Eliminate  in. 


PREFACE. 


This  work  is  presented  to  the  pub]ic  with  unfeigned  diffidence  ; 
not  that  the  thought  which  it  undertakes  to  portray  is  not  substan- 
tially important  and  true;  but  that  its  elaboration,  at  some  points 
and  in  some  regards,  fails  of  that  force  and  clearness,  which,  as 
concerning  subjects  of  the  nature  considered,  is  especially  desirable. 
However,  as  the  public  possesses  an  available  weapon  of  defense — 
the  boycott — and  as  it  rarely  happens  that  any  work  leaves  the  hands 
of  its  author  wherein  some  imperfections  do  not  appear,  as  it  is, 
whether  for  better  or  worse,  it  is  hoped  it  may  be  permitted  to  pass. 

A  few  explanations  are  due  the  reader.  The  work  was  com- 
menced several  months  since,  as  a  study  de  novo  of  the  industrial 
status ;  it  has  been  written  at  convenient  times  between  the  call  of 
other  duties,  and  printed  at  once,  form  after  form,  as  the  manuscript 
was  prepared.  The  first  intention  of  the  author,  after  having  stated 
the  fundamental  principles  advanced  in  the  first  four  or  five  chapters, 
was  to  review,  in  full,  th6se  topics  commonly  treated  of  in  current 
works  of  economic  science.  The  chapters  on  Land,  Capital,  Labor, 
Wealth,  Exchange,  &c.,  were  sketched  and  partly  written,  when  for 
sundry  reasons,  of  a  private  nature  principally,  the  first  plan  was 
abandoned,  and  that  actually  fojlowed,  substituted,  ^he  reader  will 
therefore  find  in  the  first  half-dozen  chapters,  references  to  other 
chapters  for  confirmatory  sentiments  and  demonstrations,  which,  in 
fact,  do  not  appear  and  cannot  be  found.  It  is  believed,  however, 
the  change  in  the  plan,  at  a  later  date,  has  not  materially  broken 
that  consistent  harmony  which  should  characterize  such  efforts. 

Furthermore,  knowing  the  general  dissatisfaction  with  the  current 
thought  of  economic  science,  the  author  has  endeavored  carefully  to 
sift  and  consider  its  teachings  ;  to  retain  its  truths  and  reject  its 
errors.  His  investigations  have  satisfied  him  that  the  one  term, 
valuCy  which  to  economics  is  as  fundamental,  as  to  mathematics  is 
the  term,  number^  has  been  used  in  too  narrow  a  sense  ;  that  other 
values,  of  greater  importance  to  man  than  those  produced  by  human 
labor — human  labor  values  being  the  only  values  recognized  by 
scientific  writers — exist,  and  are  perpetually  found  at  the  point  of 
exchange  in  connection  with  those  produced  by  human  labor;  values 
which  are  the  result  of  the  active  and  passive  forces  operating  in 
nature's  laboratories  and  workshops,  on  the  mineral  monad,  the 
vegetable  seed  and  the  animal  ovum. 

He  has  furthermore  found  at  the  point  of  exchange,  in  all  com- 
modities, certain  values  which  are  enforced  by  common  consent  and 
custom  which,  in  fact,  and  in  themselves,  being  based  upon  no  labor 
whatever,  are  absolutely  valueless.     To  the  former,  the  term  natural^ 


IV 

to  the  latter  the  term  fictitious  has  been  applied.  Instead  of  value 
as  adopted  by  current  economic  science,  the  author  proposes  value 
natural^  value  artifiical  and  value  ficticious — all  of  which  are  found 
in  every  commodity  at  the  point  of  exchange — the  first  produced 
by  creative  labor,  the  second  by  human  labor  and  the  third — rent, 
profit  and  interest — put  forth  and  sustained,  contrary  to  the  true  genesis 
of  value,  by  society.  These  values,  though  unrecognized  by  current 
science,  all  meet  in  commodity  and  are  cognizable  at  the  point  of 
exchange  ;  and  through  their  recognition,  the  economic  accountant, 
who  now  recognizes  but  one,  would  be  able  to  do  that  which  he 
cannot  now  do  ;  viz.,  balance  the  books  and  show  clearly — prox- 
imate equality  of  individuals  being  recognized — why  some  men 
become  rich  and  others  remain  poor.  If  one  person  goes  to  the 
exchange  carrying  his  portion  of  the  natural,  artificial  and  fictitious 
values,  and  another  goes  there  carrying  his  portion  of  the  artificial 
values  alone — values  produced  by  his  own  labor — the  former  will 
become  rich  and  the  latter  remain  poor.  The  industrial  rights  of 
man  are  associated  with  the  natural  values,  and  the  industrial  wrongs 
are  concealed  in  the  fictitious  values.  The  term  value  needs  a  new 
definition  or  unfoldment,  and  whether  that  here  proposed  is  correct 
or  not,  must  be  left  for  further  determination.  In  this  work,  how- 
ever, it  is  used  in  ihe  sense,  or  senses  here  indicated. 

With  these  brief  explanations,  the  author  leaves  the  work  to  the 
patience  and  indulgence  of  the  reader ;  adding  the  hoj>e,  however, 
should  the  latter  tread  the  mazes  of  the  various  analyses,  discussions 
and  demonstrations,  he  may  be  repaid  by  a  fuller  assurance,  that 
humanity  is  moving  forward  through  effort  and  conflict,  by  lines  of 
advance  already  open,  to  better  conditions  and  more  satisfactory 
realizations. 

The  timid  conservative  need  not  be  disturbed  by  the  radical  de- 
mands made — Chapters  IV  and  V — in  the  interest  of  a  common 
humanity,  nor  need  the  daring  radical  be  irritated  by  the  tardy  pro- 
cesses through  which — Chapters  VII  and  VIII — the  industrial  rights 
of  man  are  likely  to  be  reached.  What  the  former  most  covets  is 
freedom  from  abrupt  and  overstraining  advances ;  what  the  latter 
ardently  cherishes,  is  the  establishment  of  all  men  in  the  enjoyment 
of  their  rights.  The  orderly  evolution  of  industry,  with  its  steady 
movement  through  complex  processes,  incited  by  the  lower  and 
upper  forces,  will  ultimately  harmonize  capitalist  with  laborer,  pro- 
ducer with  consumer,  protectionist  with  free  trader,  and  assure  to 
both  conservative  and  radical,  the  hearts  chief  desire ;  for  in  the 
thought  of  each  now  contending  factor,  there  is  somewhat  of  the 
Universal  Thought,  and  it  is  destined  to  penetrate  and  permeate 
humanity  and  become  there  unified  as  it  i;  already  unified  in  its 
own  pure  and  exalted  realm.  W.  N.  G. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

LAW. 

A  development  that  parallels  and  is  indispensible  to  human  progress.  Acenserva- 
torof  civilization.     Necessities  and  advantages  of  sustaining  law.  Page  1-4 

CHAPTER  II. 

CAPACITY  AND  POWER. 

A  psychological  study.     Equality  of  capacity  and  power  assumed.         Page  5-6 

CHAPTER  III. 

WANTS. 

Psychological  origin  of  want;  spiritual,  material,  mixed;  rational  and  unrational, 
virtuous  and  vicious,  just  and  unjust  want.  The  universal  incitor  to  activity. 
The  progressive  unfoldment  and  increased  scope  of  want,  marks  the  move- 
ment of  civilization.  Want  suppliable  or  non-suppliable  ;  non-suppliable 
by  average  effort,  want  is  the  parent  of  poverty,  misery  and  crime  ;  when 
hutiianity  becomes  active  for  the  love  of  activity,  human  want  must 
diminish.  '  Page  7-17 

CHAPTER  IV.     SECTION  I. 

RIGHTS. 

Originate  in  the  same  source  as  wants.  Determined  by  the  scope  and  character 
of  wants.  The  end  of  rights  is  the  adequate  supply  of  wants,  through  effort. 
The  mission  of  effort.  Co-existent  with  the  scope  of  human  existence. 
General  rights  of  men  to  created  entities.  Page  18-21 

SECTION  II. 

Natural  right  to  provisions ;  food,  clothing  and  shelter.  Objections  thereto 
argued.  A  source  of  puljlic  corruotion.  Argument  continued.  Primitive 
provisions  for  laborers.  How  lost  to  them.  Philosophy  and  law  of  saving. 
Process  of  primitive  accumulation.  Page  35-38 

SECTION  III. 

Right  to  the  use  of  tools,  implements  and  machinery.  Development  of  effective 
tools,  implements  and  machinery  a  social  growth.  Right  to  a  use  of  the 
appliances  of  production  recognized. 


VI. 

SECTION  IV. 

Right  to  the  use  of  money.  Barter  and  commerce.  Gold  and  silver  the  relics 
of  barter.  Demand  for  the  continued  use  of  gold  and  silver,  evince  a  want 
of  confidence,  private  and  public.  Real  money,  based  on  national  wealth 
and  public  confidence,  is  asocial  growth  and  national  product.  Equal  right 
of  all  to  use  it.  Difficulties  in  its  distribution.  Unsatisfactory  results  of 
low  interest.  Page  39-44 

SECTION   V. 

Equality  of  rpen  disputed.  Renewed  discussion.  Proximate  or  proportional 
equality  of  rights  instuitively  and  universally  recognized.  Page  45-47 

SECTION  VI. 

Practical  failure  of  equal  rights.  Of  priority  of  birth,  advent  and  devel- 
opment— of  permenent  investiture.  Prospective  results  of  vested  rights. 
TTie  enslavement  of  millions.  Page  48-53 

CHAPTER   V.     SECTION  I. 

DUTIES. 

Origin  and  nature.  CompLmentary  to  rights.  Alternate  with  rights.  Sense 
of  industrial  duties  undeveloped.  Page  54-57 

SECTION  II. 

Industrial  Duties  fully  analyzed  and  explained.  Their  requirements.  Ob- 
structions to  the  acceptance  of  new  thought.     Industrial  obstruction. 

Page  58-63 

SECTION  III. 

Relation  of  Charity  to  duties.  Distinction  between  production  and  accumulation. 
Merits,  demerits  and  abuses  of  saving.  Psychological  relation  of  saving  and 
self-sacrifice.  Efficacy  of  saving  evinced  by  facts.  Duty  of  the  rich  to^ 
dispense.  Duty  of  giving  intuitively  recognized.  How  employes  are  dispoiled.* 
Means  of  dispoilment  explained  and  illustrated.  Charity  and  restitution. 
Charity  an  industrial  rebate.  Indifference  of  employers.  Their 
power  diminished  by  open  opportunities  and  emigration.  Organized  resist- 
ance to  industrial  oppression.  Page  64-85 

SECTION  IV. 

Employment;  its  connection  with  industrial  duty.  Origin  and  nature  of  compe- 
tition. It  arises  on  the  abolition  of  chattel  slavery.  A  struggle  for  the  re- 
sults of  production  between  employers  and  employes.  Thornton's  labor 
ethics  untenable.  Employers  should  furnish  employment  for  all,  in 
proportion  as  they  absorb  the  means  o!  employment.  A  calculation  based 
on  absorption.  Page  86-96 


VII. 

SECTION   V. 

Extreme  duty  of  Restitution.  If  employment  is  not  furnished,  the  means  of  em- 
ployment should  be" surrendered  and  be  reapportioned  by  society.  Surrender 
of  prerogative  by  Japanese  princes.  Emulation  of  their  action  commended 
— may  be  demanded.     Christian  civilization  nearing  a  crisis.     Page  97-103 

CHAPTER   VI.     SECTION   I. 
NATIONAL  WEALTH  AND  POVERTY. 


Division  of  labor  and  co-operative  production.  Competition  a  phase  and  an 
accessory  of  distribution.  Production  already  co-operative.  Origin 
of  competition.  Inherent  injustice  of  the  present  system  of  private 
contract, .  We  have  as  yet  no  industrial  system  ;  it  is  but  a  phase  or  con- 
dition of  development.  It  must  become  all  competitive  or  all  co-operative. 
If  competitive,  justice  requires  an  equitable  distribution  of  the  sources  of 
wealth  and  appliances  of  production.  Page  104-112 

SECTION  II. 

Further  analysis  of  national  wealth  and  poverty.  Growth  and  dissemination  of 
wealth.  Page  11 3-1 17 

SECTION    III. 

Increase  and  equitable  distribution  of  wealth.  Forces  and  materials  of  produc- 
tion. Maximum  of  wealth  has  never  been  reached.  The  common  allegation 
of  over  production,  an  industrial  sophistry.  Page  11 8- 119 

SECTION   IV. 

Analysis  of  the  economic  term  demand.  Demand,  as  commonly  used,  involves 
the  presence  of  purchasing  power.  Demand  without  purcahsing  power  is  w^ant 
unsuppliable.  Character  and  Source  of  purchasing  power.  National  purchas- 
ing power  appropriated  and  retained  by  capitalists,  causes  the  subsid- 
ance  of  demand  and  overproduction.  Source  of  the  cry  of  overproduction. 
Credit  due  to  capitalists.  Page  120-128 

SECTION   V. 

How  profit  checks  production  and  increases  poverty.  A  mathematical  demon- 
stration concerning  the  disposition  of  American  national  wealth.  The  trans- 
ference of  national  values  from  the  hands  of  capitalists  to  consumers  through 
purchase,  detailed.  Wages,  fee  and  salary,  foreign  commerce  and  the  credit 
system.  The  result  in  round  numbers.  Industrial  leaders  principally 
responsible  for  deficient  purchasing  power,  cessation  of  demand  and  check 
of  produetion.  Page  129-135 


VIII. 


.    jSECTION   VI. 

Remedies.  Co-operative  distribution.  Enlargement  of  the  ends  of  production 
required.  Narrow  ends  of  private  enterprise.  It  must  needs  be  supplement- 
ed.   Industrial  continuity  broken  by  strikes  and  lockouts.        Page  136-145 

SECTION  VII. 

Private  enterprise.  Its  ends,  intrinsically,  narrovir  and  selfish.  Buttressed  by 
an  army  of  unemployed,  which  it  gathers  and  recruits  without  sustaining. 
Imports  laborers  to  depress  wages.  Continues  to  flourish  only  through  the 
dependence  and  poverty  of  millions.  Facts.  Capitalists  feel  driven  by  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation  to  violate  national  laws  against  importation  of 
contract  labor.  They  plead  the  law  of  necessity.  Narrow  ends  of  private 
enterprise  responsible  for  prevailing  poverty.  Page  146-152 

SECTION  VIII. 

Quasi-public  enterprise,  or  private  enterprise  under  public  control.  Intimate 
relation  of  government  with  industrial  affairs.  Consumers  protected,  pro- 
ducers assisted  by  government.  Reason  for  present  inconsistencies  of 
legislation  to  be  found  in  the  antagonisms  of  industry.  Page  153-160 

SECTION  IX. 

Public  enterprise.  The  question  to  be  determined.  Conservation  of  individ- 
ualism. Corruption  of  private  enterprise.  Expansion  of  public  enterprise. 
Government  not  an  accumulator.  Progressive  nationalization.  Public  en- 
terprise eliminates  industrial  extortion.  Public  and  private  enterprise  con- 
trasted. Page  1 61-177 

CHAPTER  VII.     SECTION  I. 

DRIFT    OF    THE     FORCES     TOWARD    CO-OPERATIVE 

DISTRIBUTION. 

Operxtion  of  the  lower  forces.  Origin  of  co-operative  distribution.  Effects  of 
both  capital  and  labor  organization  on  co-operative  distribution.  Com- 
bination of  capitalists.     Spread  of  co-operative  distribution.    Page  178-196 

SECTION  II. 

Combination  of  laborers.  Details.  Progress  of  labor  combination.  Crisis  of 
the  movement.  Page  197-204 

SECTION  III. 

Combination  of  consumers.  Exposition  of  the  antagonism  between  consumers 
and  producers.  Price,  its  incitor.  Rights  and  powers  of  consumers. 
Consumers,  constitutiug  the  nation,  intuitively  appeal  for  redress,  to  their 
instrument,  the  government.    Protection  and  free  trade,  consecutive  periods 


IX. 

of  industrial  development.  The  principle  of  free  trade  to  be  enforced  by 
consumers  through  domestic  legislation.  Principles  of  both  protection 
and  free  trade  conserve.d  by  an  orderly  evolution.  Free  trade  and  free 
travel.  Industrial  combinations  the  nurseries  of  co-operative  distribu- 
tion. Page  205-215 

CHAPTER  VIII.     SECTION  I. 

THE   OUTCOME. 

PROBABILITIES    AND   POSSIBILITIES. 

Capitalists  and  laborers  combine.  Industrial  combinations  have  come  to  stay 
and  grow.  Work  of  the  Chicago  Arbitration  Committee.  Consumers  op- 
erating through  government, reassume  the  means  and  responsibility  of  produc- 
tion. Final  combination  of  capitalists,  laborers  and  consumers,  driven  to- 
gether by  self-interest.  Ultimate  action  of  consumers  through  industrial 
and  political  forces,  inevitable.  Co-operative  distribution  universally  es- 
tablished through  the  operation  of  the  lovrar  forces  acting  through  con- 
sumers. Contentious  reformers  and  their  theories  harmonized.  Page  216-225 

SECTION  II. 

The  Religio  Social  forces.  Growing  influence  of  the  upper  forces.  The  power  of 
human  sympathy  over  industrial  affairs.  Human  kindness,  affection,  and 
love  drifting  the  industrial  world  to  better  conditions.  The  selfish  and  the 
religio-social — the  lower  and  upper  forces — driving  and  drawing  to  the 
same  result.  Page  226-229 


WEALTH 


AND 


POVERTY    OF    NATIONS 


LAW 


So  closely  is  law  related  to  human  development,  to  the  advance  of 
civilization,  to  the  harmonious  action  of  forces  and  factors  of  indus- 
trial life,  and  to  the  study  of  economic  principles,  that  it  becomes 
necessary  to  consider  its  nature,  allude  to  its  abuses,  and  sanction 
its  uses. 

Law,  both  written  and  unwritten,  human  and  divine,  arises  from 
the  nature  of  God,  of  man  and  the  material  universe  about  him.  It 
encourages  capacity,  and  checks  power.  It  outlines,  expresses  and 
defines,  in  intelligible  terms,  the  channels  through  which  force  oper- 
ates and  matter  is  moved.  Its  power  is  exercised  in  limiting  them 
to  those  channels.  Human  laws  are  invented  and  enacted ;  natural 
laws,  discovered. 

Forces,  human  and  divine,  are  pent  up  within  nature,  persons, 
nations  and  civilizations. 

They  are  something  apart  and  distinct  from  law.  Law  is  the  iron 
and  steel  of  the  engine  ;  force,  the  steam  which  drives.  The  latter 
is  limited  and  restrained  by  the  former.  Natural  forces  operate 
through  natural  laws,  social  forces  through  social  laws,  civil  forces 
through  civil  laws,  and  industrial  forces  through  industrial  laws. 
Civil  law  is  a  development  which  parallels  human  progress,  and  is 
subject  to  continued  perturbations — advancements  and  recessions  — 
to  changes  adapted  to  growing  views  and  expanding  interests.  On 
the  other  hand,  divine  laws,  as  discovered,  are  constant  in  their  op- 
eration. So  far  as  development  is  progressing,  where  divine  law 
operates,  only  so  far  can  inconstancy  be  affirmed.  Such  progress  is 
going  on  in  the  last  of  the  series  of  creation — in  man.  Hence  the 
seeming  absence  of  law  in  the  relations  between  God  and  man.  The 
real  divergence  is  but  temporary.     Harmony  will  be  achieved. 

It  is  the  boast  of  law-givers  and  law-makers  that  human  law,  com- 
mon and  constitutional,  is  derived  from  the   moral   and  divine  law, 


2  WEALTH    AND    P.OVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

t 

and  it  has  doubtless  been  the  intent  of  the  most  noted  to  bring  the 
former  into  juxtaposition  with  the  latter. 

It  may  be  safely  asserted,  however  widely  human  and  divine  law 
may, vat  marked  and  critical  periods  of  national  life,  have  diverged, 
the  one  from  the  other,  that  human  law,  written,  constitutional  and 
civil  law,  expressed  for,  and  at  the  times  during  which  it  has  been 
in  operation,  constitutes  the  best  conception  of  what  then  was  believed 
by  the  ruling  elements  of  organization,  to  be,  concernmg  the  inter- 
ests involved,  the  divine  law. 

With  great  persistency,  in  spite  of  the  groveling  forces  of  selfish- 
ness, men  have  pinned  their  faith  strongly  upon  laws  originating,  not 
in  terrestrial,  but  in  celestial  forces. 

Written  law  marks  everywhere  the  line  of  battle  where,  contend- 
ing forces,  struggling  for  freedom  and  slavery,  for  right  and  wrong, 
have  done  their  bravest  work  ;  where  constitutional  liberty  has  broken 
the  power  of  autocratic  despotism,  and  where,  in  turn,  despotism  has 
overthrown  the  work  of  liberty. 

Along  these  lines  of  contention  written  law  has  been  the  peaceful 
conservator  of  results  gained  by  the  respective  victors  ;  and  as  these 
results  have  gradually  approximated  the  dictates  of  divine  law,  the 
oases  of  peace  have  increased  in  number  and  size,  until,  by  slow  pro- 
gression, peace,  freedom  from  physical  violence,  is  now  the  rule,  and 
not  the  exception. 

Either  an  active  poacher  or  a  rightful  sportsman  can  accomplish 
more,  if  a  game-keeper  attend  him,  to  carry  the  acquirements  of  his 
sport. 

Law  is,  in  a  sense,  the  game-keeper  of  the  victor.  It  performs 
the  duties  of  that  office  either  for  the  friends  or  the  foes  of  liberty 
and  humanity. 

If  tyranny  has  gained  a  temporary  victory,  law  assists  to  conserve 
the  result ;  if  freedom  has  triumphed,  it  is  equally  preservative  in  the 
better  interest.  It  is  as  much  to  the  interest  of  the  va-nquished,  as 
to  the  victor,  that  law  should  be  regarded  and  obeyed. 

But  it  is  impossible  until  harmony  between  human  and  divine  law 
is  secured,  until  contention  has  given  place  to  peace,  injustice  to 
justice,  that  written  law  shall  be  universally  respected. 

Measured  by  the  views  of  opponents,  no  law  has  existed  which  was 
not  justly  obnoxious  to  some.  The  Missouri  Compromise  and  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  were  rightly  contemptible  in  the  sight  of  intelli- 
gent and  principled  opponents  of  negro  slavery. ,  At  the  time,  these 
opponents  were  denounced  as  extremists,  and  insane.  Principle 
then  sustained  them  ;  and  time  and  events  have  vindicated  their  san- 
ity and  insight. 

John  Brown's  rashness  and  fate,  caused  men  to  think,  whose 
minds  nothing  less  than  tragedy  could  arouse  from  inaction.     In  the 


ADVANTAGE    OF    SUSTAINING    LAW.  3 

future  other  sacrifices  may  be  demanded,  and  other  heroes  crowned. 
'  Yet  in  a  land  of  constitutional  freedom,  where  the  law  provides 
modes  for  its  own  amendment  and  repeal,  violence  is  unnecessary. 

If  it  be  true  that  wrong  and  injustice  is  entrenched  in  law ; 
that  the  griefs  and  miseries  of  mankind  are  engendered  through 
forces  sheltered  by  its  provisions — men  must  learn  to  reach  the 
forces  without  burning  the  entrenchments ;  to  drop  the  bombs  of 
reason  and  sympathy  upon,  and  capture  the  garrison  without  de- 
stroying accoutrements,  ammunition  and  provisions;  and  ultimately, 
to  transmute  by  argument  and  kindness,  captives  into  friends. 

They  should  remember,  victory  won,  that  the  legal  entrenchments 
captured  will  shelter  the  victors,  the  accoutrements  and  ammunition 
stengthen  their  defenses,  the  provisions  sustain  their  energies,  and 
that  through  reason  alone  can  the  victory  be  made  permanent. 

They  may  go  farther  and  be  assured  that  it  is  not  men  who  stand 
opposed  to  men,  but  principles  within  men  which  contend  against 
principles,  the  wrong  against  the  right,  the  evil  against  the  good ; 
that  principles  are  not  weakened  by  physical  violence,  but,  invoking 
through  self-love,  physical  power  in  their  defense,  take  deeper  root 
and  stronger  growth. 

Unjust  and  inhuman  laws  may  be  most  effectually  over-turned, 
not  by  a  direct  attack  on  the  law,  but  by  a  flank  movement  on  evil 
principles  which  call  it  into  existence  and  give  it  support. 

A  principle  exists  in  divine  law,  the  law  to  whose  beneficence 
and  justice  the  most  recalcitrant  instinctively  bow,  which  is  con- 
stantly calling,  as  deep  calls  unto  deep,  for  the  surrender  of  vicious 
principles  ;  calling  insurgents  to  their  sometime  allegiance,,  touching 
them  through  physical  interests,  working  upon  their  social  natures, 
their  instincts  of  humanity,  their  apprehensions  and  their  fears,  and 
invisibly  leading  up  to  culmination  in  their  overthrow,  their  aban- 
donment of  unjust  and  evil  endeavors,  and  coalescence  of  human 
with  divine  laws. 

It  is  to  this  invisible  working  that  every  man  should  join  himself. 

The  uplifting  of  principles  moves  thrones,  shakes  dynasties,  and 
overthrows  vicious  systems. 

If,  as  alleged,  law  embodies  the  evils  and  supports  the  vices,  which 
threaten  the  industrial  world  with  stagnation  and  civilization  with 
decay,  attack  not  law,  but  transform  the  forces  which  give  it  deadly 
design,  to  principles  which  give  beneficent  life. 

But,  principles  modified  and  transformed,  the  work  is  not  yet  done. 
Action  must  follow  enlightened  judgement.  Law  arising  in  principles 
must  be  embodied  in  statutes. 

Political  machinery  must  be  set  in  motion,  parties  formed  or  con- 
strained, legislatures  elected,  courts  remodeled,  and  executives  in  har- 
mony with  changing  conditions,  placed  in  power. 


4  WEALTH   AND    POVERTY   OF   NATIONS. 

Law,  as  a  growth  has  kept  even  pace  with  the  growth  of  society. 
Until  recent  periods  the  law-giving  faculties  of  single  men,  with  few 
exceptions,  held  society  together. 

Constitutional  concessions  marked  a  point  of  departure  from  the 
one  man  regime. 

Oligarchic  law  came  into  operation,  however,  under  the  mastery 
of  kings  and  emperors.  The  law-making  power  even  by  them  was 
diffused. 

Within  a  century,  kings  and  emperors  are  considered  an  unneces- 
sary luxury  and  expense.  'The  doctrine  of  rtpresentation  arising  from 
the  concession  of  kings  has  taken  hold  of  leading  nations.  Repub- 
licanism has  come  to  the  front,  and  with  it,  the  right  to  make  and 
change  constitutions  and  laws  has  been  asserted  by,  and  conceded 
to  all  men. 

The  right  being  established,  its  excution  is  a  matter  of  organized . 
choice.  Practically,  as  yet,  the  extension  of  the  suffrage  on  the 
well  being  of  nations  has  effected  but  little  change.  An  industrial 
oligarchy  has  distrained  the  purposes,  diverted  the  operations  of 
political  equality  and  perverted  the  power  inherent  with  every  man  to 
participate  in  legislation. 

This  oligarchy  yet  rules.  Vicious,  industrial  principles  overslaugh 
the  power  of  just  political  principles.  To  point  out  some  of  those 
vices  is  the  work  of  succeeding  chapters. 


CAPACITY    AND    POWER. 


CAPACITY    AND     POWER. 

Capacity  and  power  of  persons  and  organizations  affecting  greatly 
the  production  and  consumption  of  wealth,  require  a  brief  considera- 
tion. 

First  ;  man  existing  as  a  created  being  possesses  an  essential  prop- 
erty of  receptivity  ;  second,  an  equally  essential  faculty  of  disp^- 
sion. 

Receptivity  transforms  to  capacity  ;  dispersion  metamorphoses 
to  power. 

Capacity  and  power  on  different  planes  have  a  common  organ.  On 
the  intellectual  plane  it  is  the  brain;  on  the  physical  plane,  the 
stomach. 

The  brain  and  the  stomach  have  each  an  auricular  and  a  ventricu- 
lar side. 

The  auricular  involves  capacity  ;  the  ventricular  embraces  power. 

The  capacity  and  power  of  every  man  play  intellectlially  through 
the  -brain ;  physically,  through  the  stomach. 

The  latter  macerates  and  digests  on  the  physical ;  the  former,  on 
the  intellectual  plajie. 

Like  an  animated  watering  pot,  what  man  takes  in  through  his 
capacity  he  puts  out  through  his  power. 

In  a  state  of  rest  and  tranquillity,  capacity  is  unfolded  ;  in  a  state  of 
activity,  power  is  developed. 

In  a  condition  of  receptivity,  the  boy  at  school  learns  his  lessons  ; 
and  in  the  state  of  dispersion  he  recites  thsm. 

In  exercise  of  capacity  the  editor  opens  his  mind  to  incoming 
truth  ;  in  the  exercise  of  power,  he  arranges,  composes  and  writes. 

Through  the  operation  of  capacity  the  lawyer  acquires  his  facts 
and  principles  and  arranges  his  brief ;  through  the  operation  of  pow- 
er he  bombards  the  judge  and  fires  the  jury. 

During  rest  the  cap i  city  of  the  man  of  muscle  is  renewed  ;  during 
activity,  his  power  is  evolved. 

Hours  of  receptivity  are  equally  important  to  the  personal  and  gen- 
eral weal,  with  hours  of  dispersion. 

Rest  is  equally  necessary  with  labor.  An  over-rested  man  is 
rightly  unhappy,  equally,  with  an  over-worked  man. 

In  a  well-ordered  life  and  a  full-grown  person^  capacity  is  develop- 
ed proportionately  with  power. 

Capacity  waits  with  patience  and  longs  with  aspiration,  unuttera- 
ble, for  the  incoming  ;  power  effervesces  with  the  eagerness  of  out- 
going. 


6  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

Capacity  fully  exercised  augments  the  compass  of  power;  and 
power,  brought  to  robust  action,  increases  the  dimensions  of  capac- 
ity :  each  alternating  the  other,  the  essence  called  man  opens  and 
grows,  and  the  composite  entity  called  society  expands,  and  becomes 
perfect. 

Equality  of  capacity  and  power  embodied  in  persons  is  an  impor- 
tant factor  with  the  production  and  accumulation  of  wealth  and  the 
avoidance  of  poverty. 

There  is  no  standard  of  measurement.  It  is  assumed  that  the 
capacity  and  power  of  one  man  is  equal  to  the  capacity  and  power  of 
another.     It  is  true,  but  approximately. 

It  is  nevertheless  true,  that  a  close  relation  exists  between  the  ca- 
pacity and  powers  and  wants  of  individuals,  and  other  things  being 
equal  that  each  person  in  health,  of  age  neither  infantile  nor  senile, 
is  endowed  with  capacity  and  power  equal  to  the  supply  of  his  own 
wants. 

How  closely  the  power  of  one  person  equals  the  power  of  an- 
other, is  more  fully  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  Rights. 


WANTS. 


WANTS. 

To  lay  the  foundation  of  a  rational  system  of  economic  science,  it 
is  necessary  to  consider  briefly,  but  radically,  the  nature  of  man,  the 
nature  and  condition  of  society,  the  character  of  an  invisible  creative 
power,  their  relations  to  each  other  and  to  the  universe  of  matter  or- 
ganized and  unorganized. 

We  must,  if  possible,  arrive  at  the  origin  of  person  and  things,  and 
the  purpose  of  their  existence.  As  the  endlessness  and  infinity  of 
time,  place,  and  circumstance,  furnish  no  positive  conception  of 
origin,  it  is  necessary  to  assume  a  premise  regarding  it,  not  previously 
established.  If  the  assumption  be  true,  facts  and  inferences  will  set- 
tle around  it  in  harmony.  Its  truth  may  then  be  considered  as  settled. 
If  facts  and  conditions  fail  to  harmonize,  the  premise  must  be  aban- 
doned or  modified.  Other  premises  must  be  successively  selected, 
until  one  be  found  which  harmonizes  with  facts.  This,  in  brief,  is 
the  ordinary  method  of  scientific  growth. 

Different  classes  of  thinkers,  on  these  topics,  commence  from  dif- 
ferent premises  ;  all  bringing  up  at  the  end  of  an  infinite  series,  with 
an  acknowledgement  of  finite  capacity  and  consequent  ignorance. 

But  the  most  common  assumption,  and  that  which  most  fully  and 
satisfactorily  explains  the  phenomena,  is  that  the  Universe  is  the  crea- 
ted result  of  a  single  creative  personality. 

That  premise  will  be  assumed.  It  is  the  general  sense  of  man- 
kind that  nature,  from  its  most  simple  to  its  most  complex  forms, 
from  the  rock  through  the  tree  to  the  most  perfect  man,  is  not  self 
existent ;  but  with  its  manifold  varieties  of  form,  color,  size  an-d 
consistence,  and  its  different  degrees  of  organization,  was  brought 
into  being  by  a  self-existent  creative  agency,  and  its  perpetuity  has 
been  assured  through  provisions  of  the  same  agency. 

This  idea,  in  modified  form,  has  prevailed  in  all  lands  and  from 
earliest  times.  Under  the  varied  appellations  of  Ormuzd,  Allah, 
Jehovah  and  other  names  less  known,  similar  characteristics  and 
powers  have  been  ascribed  to  this  invisible  being. 

It  has  been  urged  that  every  man  creates  his  own  God  ;  hence,  no 
God  exists.  If  every  man  should  accurately  describe  the  earth  as  it 
appears  to  him,  the  descriptions  would  vary  infinitely.  How  false 
would  be  the  inference  that  there  is  no  earth  ! 

The  nature  of  this  being  has  probably  been  always  as  now ;  but 
He  has  been  described  in  different  places,  at  different  periods  and  by 
different  persons,  in  lights  often  obscured  by  ignorance  and  supersti- 


O  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

tion,  not  as  He  then  and  there  was,  but  as  He  then  and  there  was 
seen  to  be  through  distorted  vision. 

By  those  suffering  the  necessary  consequences  of  their  own  errors, 
He  has  seemed  full  of  hatred  and  vindictiveness  ;  by  those  in  whom 
personally  developed  evil  had  not  dimmed  the  clearness  of  highest 
insight,  He  has  been  described,  in  all  ages,  as.the  infinite  personifica- 
tion of  infinite  love  and  wisdom. 

It  is  further  alleged  on  internal  evidences  generally  accepted,  that 
man,  the  highest  type  of  being,  was  made  in  the  image  of  the  Creator  ; 
that  the  characteristics  of  the  one,  finite  as  to  scope  and  power,  are 
similar  to  those  of  the  other;  that  the  finite  love,  wisdom  and  activity 
in  one  is  infinitely  duplicated  in  the  other,  and  that  the  trinity  of  end, 
cause  and  effect  observable  in  men,  is  infinitely  consummated  in  the 
Creator. 

These  similarities  admitted,  marked  dissimilarities  present  them- 
selves. On  the  one  hand  the  Creator  is  infinite,  self-existent  and 
independent ;  on  the  other  hand,  man  is  finite,  created  and  depen- 
dent, relying  upon  the  former  for  sources  of  existence  and  activity. 
The  one  is  the  origin  of  infinite  commodity,  the  other  an  active  re- 
ceptacle of  all  wealth.  The  former  is  an  illimitable  and  independent 
giver,  the  latter  a  persistent  and  unavoidable  receiver. 

This  invisible,  omniscient  and  omnipotent  Being,  in  avoidance  of 
universal  stagnation  within  the  recesses  and  limits  of  his  own  exist- 
ence, in  furtherance  of  an  infinite  system  of  output  from  himself  and 
income  to  himself,  in  perpetuity  of  his  own  love,  wisdom  and  utility, 
in  supply  of  his  own  wants  and  maintenance  of  his  own  happiness, 
created  the  earth  with  its  values,  its  wealth  and  its  inhabitants. 

The  Creator  and  man  are  both  organized  wants  ;  the  infinite  and 
first  want  of  the  former  is  to  give ;  to  get  rid  of  His  superabundant 
and  overflowing  vitalities  and  wealth :  the  perpetual  and  paramount 
want  of  the  latter  is  \.o  get;  to  absorb  the  forms  of  wealth  which  lie 
in  and  about  him. 

But  neither  can  be  satisfied  with  a  status  ;  to  realize  perpetual 
and  universal  happiness,  return  currents  must  flow.  What  goes  out, 
in  gift  from  the  Creator,  must  find  channels  of  return  ;  what  comes 
in  as  receipts  to  men,  must  find  channels  of  outgo ;  else,  in  either 
case,  stagnation,  disease  and  desolation. 

In  normal  condition  the  universe  is  a  vast  congeries  of  unob- 
structed circulations  :  system  upon  system,  and  system  within  system, 
all  finding  origin  and  source  in  the  Infinite  heart;  thence,  issuing  by 
arterial  and  capillary  outflow,  on  elevated  planes  through  spiritual 
substances  and  realms,  on  lower  levels  through  meshes  and  arenas 
of  the  material  world,  making  liquid  music  into  and  through 
the  psychic  and  physical  hearts  of  millions;  whence,  having  deposited 
benefits  and  nutriments  and  gathered  the  raw  material  of  new  riches, 


ORIGIN    OF    WANTS.  9 

returning  by  winding  ways  and  through  invisible  and  multitudinous 
channels  to  points  of  departure,  these  circulations  complete  their 
perpetual  courses. 

The  human  race  is  under  the  continued  influence  of  these  two 
currents,  originating  in  the  same  Source  :  First,  the  direct  current, 
touching  by  invisible  lines,  the  inner  and  spiritual  nature  of  man ; 
second,  the  indirect  current  falling  primarily  upon  bed  rock  of 
material  existence,  and  flowing  upwardly  through  the  different  grada- 
tions and  advancements  of  unorganized  and  organized  development. 

The  individual  soul,  which  is  the  real,  the  central  man,  thus  leads 
a  two-fold  life.  It  is  fed  through  the  intuitions  from  the  inner  world 
whose  mysteries  are  but  partially  fathomed,  through  the  external 
senses  and  avenues  from  the  outer  world.  It  draws,  by  its  ferment- 
ing energies  and  its  inter-constructive  vitalities,  upon  the  luxuriant 
growth  of  wealth  unseen,  and  upon  streams  of  comfort  and  luxury, 
concentrated  from  the  cultivated  fields  of  physical  nature.  It  is  an 
autocratic  beggar  issuing  its  demands  on  the  resources  of  two  worlds — 
demands  which,  though  perpetually  repeated,  are  never  denied.  To 
demand  and  receive,  are  indispensable  conditions  of  its  life. 

It  is  between  the  counter-influences  of  these  diverse  realms  where 
an  equilibrium  is  possible,  that  man's  choices  are  opened,  power  ac- 
quired and  character  developed.  Want  and  choice  are  indissolubly 
bound  together,  the  stronger  want  determining  choice. 

It  is  here  in  this  possible  equilibrium,  that  normal  want  deploys 
its  forces  in  an  open,  if  not  a  free,  field. 

The  life  of  man  is  love,  and  want  is  its  most  common  and  com- 
prehensive expression. 

Whether  we  interrogate  the  Creator,  society,  or  the  individual,  the 
response  comes  from  every  quarter,  that  normal  want  is  the  primitive 
and  supreme  inciter  to  beneficent  activity  ;  that  all  effort  goes  out 
therefrom  to  supply.  Among  men,  and  through  society,  it  acts  like  a 
vacuum  which  nature  rushes  to  fill.  It  is  an  ever  forceful  affinity 
which  draws  atoms,  planets,  and  systems  around  controlling  points^ 
and  determines  them  to  a  common  centre. 

Life  without  want,  whether  it  be  finite  or  infinite,  is  an  inconceiv- 
able condition ;  it  would  not  be  life ;  it  would  be  absolute  and  univer- 
sal stagnation ;  it  would  nullify  all  incentive  to  action.  Even 
creative  activity  is  prompted  by  infinite  want. 

Nevertheless,  want,  in  abnormal  intensities,  supported  by  unlimited 
power,  has  been  and  is  now  the  cause  of  all  the  evils  which  effect  per- 
sons and  nations.  In  a  sense  all  wants  are  normal — normal  to  the 
persons  or  organizations,  which  they  inspire — normal  in  the  produc- 
tion of  good  or  in  the  production  of  evil. 

In  another  sense,  all  wants,  culminating  in  evil,  are  abnormal. 


lO  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

Evil  is  but  •  inverted  good — good  intensified  out  of  its  natural 
channels  and  distorted  from  its  purest  forms. 

Though  want  has  incited  the  world  to  activity,  want  operating 
in  extremis  through  freedom  and  power  has  filled  it  with  need, 
cruelty  and  bloodshed.  When  supply  should  be  universal  to  all  men, 
a  small  class  stands  with  frenzied  greed  over  against  a  large  class  with 
anguished  need ;  both  affected  by  want  operating  in  extremes  ;  the 
former  assisted  by,  the  latter  deprived  of,  power,  opportunties"  and 
facilities. 

The  beneficence  or  malevolence  of  want  turns  upon  the  question, 
if  it  be  suppliable  or  non-suppliable  ;  if  suppliable,  how  far  the  effort 
required  to  secure  supply  is  productive  of  satisfaction  or  suffermg  : 
if  unsuppliable,  thedegreeof  benefit,  or  anguish  caused  by  abstinence. 
It  is  not  want  which  should  terrify  the  world  ;  it  is  the  insatiate  greed 
into  which  it  becomes  perverted  and  the  anguished  need  which  re- 
sults therefrom ;  anguish  embodied  in  prostrating  effort  and  de- 
moralizing abstinence. 

Want  is  an  established  entity,  the  origin  of  all  civilization,  and  insep- 
arable from  human  life  ;  but  it  was  intended  as  a  promoter  of  general 
happiness  rather  than  misery. 

Supply,  satisfaction,  enjoyment,  could  never  be,  if  men  being 
men,  were  severed  from  want — were  made  absolutely  independ- 
ent. It  is  dependence  and  receptivity  which  makes  happiness  pos- 
sible. 

A  universe  of  wealth  would  be  useless  under  other  conditions. 
But,  that  want  should  culminate  in  plenty  and  comfort,  supply,  through 
effort  must  be  available.  Supply  exists  everywhere  in  proportionate 
abundance.  Provision  is  perennial  and  infinite.  Giving  does  not  im- 
poverish, nor  withholding,  enrich.  Non-suppliability  is  the  only  hin- 
derance.  Nothing  but  the  obstructions  of  individuals  and  classes  has 
prevented  and  still  prevents  an  equitable  access  to  supply.  Such  ob- 
structions must  ultimately  yield  to  the  ponderous  current  of  progress. 

Showing,  made  thus  far  in  this  inquiry,  points  to  three  parties  who 
are  involved  in  the  discussion  of  want  :  the  Creator,  society  and  the 
individual. 

Though  the  wants  of  the  Creator,  as  men  develop  toward  the  stan- 
dard of  the  Godlike,  will  become  increasingly  respected,  economic 
science  is  principally  and  most  directly  concerned  with  the  wants  of 
society  and  of  man. 

Inquiry  further  shows  that  want  must  be  considered  from  the 
two-fold  standpoint  of  man's  spiritual  and  material  nature. 

Economic  want,  or  demand,  as  it  is  usually  named,  mcludes :  First, 
spiritual  wants;  second,  material  wants;  third,  mixed,  or  semi- 
6pirituo-?naterial  wants. 

It  is  eminentlv  and  universally  true,  and  becomes  more  marked  as 


WANTS    SUPPLIABLE    AND    NON-SUPPLIABLE.  II 

men  and  society  become  older,  wiser  and  better,  that  men  do  not 
live  by  bread  alone  ;  that  the  highest  and  purest  culture  demands  in- 
creasingly more  expenditure  of  effort  for  satisfaction  of  spiritual  than 
of  material  wants. 

Intellectual,  aesthetic,  social,  moral  and  religious  wants,  personal 
and  collective,  those  which  arise  in  spiritual  springs,  are  rapidly 
increasing  ;  and  that,  too,  out  of  proportion  with  the  contemporaneous 
increase  of  material  wants.  , 

Strictly  speaking,  wants  purely  material,  or  purely  spiritual,  are 
few. 

Purely  material  wants  of  man  center  in  but  two  ends :  First, 
building  and  repairing  the  body  ;  second,  sustaining  its  heat.  To 
these  ends,  food,  clothing,  shelter  and  fuel  are  needed.  Supply  of 
these  wants  requires  substances  and  textures,  few  and  primitive. 

Purely  spiritual  wants  center  in  the  creation  and  maintenance 
of  thoughts  and  affection  pertaining  to  spiritual  life.  In  the  golden 
age  of  man,  these  wants,  it  is  alleged,  were  supplied  as  if  by  spon- 
taneity. 

But  when  material  wants  reach  up  for  spiritual  embellishment  and 
refinement,  and  spiritual  wants  reach  down  for  material  comfort  and 
envelopment,  then  comes  the  tug  of  effort  in  supply.  Then,  are  the 
sources  of  wealth  and  the  powers  of  production  taxed  to  their  utmost 
capabilities. 

The  plainest  woolens  of  the  com.monest  colors  and  textures,  serve 
to  retain  animal  heat,  and  answer  the  full  purpose  of  clothing.  They 
may  be  cut  and  sewed  by  little  labor.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  art, 
no  beauty  of  color,  form  of  finish,  no  ornamentations,  no  regard  to 
the  aesthetic  element  of  soul,  to  the  inborn  longing  for  beauty  and  grace 
of  structure.  If  person  and  society  are  satisfied  with  the  supply  of  the 
mere  physical  want,  effort  is  confined  to  narrow  limits.  But  let  the 
spiritual  want  for  grace  and  beauty  of  texture,  form  and  color,  assert 
itself,  and  the  whole  work  changes.  Labor  then  comes  into-  ten-fold 
demand. 

It  is  possible  for  men  to  worship  God  in  the  open  air,  under  the 
canopy  of  heaven,  rain,  wind,  cold  and  heat  affecting  ;  thus 
supplying  wants  purely  spiritual.  But  the  necessity  of  preserving  an- 
imal heat  during  worship,  involves  material  wants.  Shelter  is  requi- 
site. Resort  to  caves  and  forest,  will  not  answer.  Structures,  wood- 
en, stone,  and  iron,  must  be  erected  to  beat  back  the  storm,  and 
preserve  the  heat  of  an  enclosed  atmosphere — heat  arising  from  the 
assemblage  and  artificial  combustion. 

These  structures  embody  a  purely  spiritual  want,  the  desire  to 
worship  ;  hence,  spiritual  wants  engender  physical  effort.  But,  carry- 
ing convenience,  comfort,  beauty,  art  and  luxury — semi-spiritual 
wants — into  these  structures,  originating  in  a  purely  spiritual  want,  and 


12  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF   NATIONS. 

effort  is  called  out  from  every  possible  source.  Thus,  churches,  cathe> 
drals  and  temples  demanding  effort  in  multifarious  forms,  assuring 
repose,  comfort  and  elegance,  arise  in  beauty  and  grandeur,  embody- 
ing the  purely  spiritual  desire  of  worship. 

The  closer  the  nature  of  want  is  inspected,  the  wider  seems  the 
scope  of  spiritual  wants,  and  the  narrower  the  scope  of  real  material 
wants. 

And  why  not  ?  Pure  want  is  ar^  emanation,  an  output  from  the 
soul.  What  are  termed  material  wants,  are  really  spiritual  wants  ex- 
tended into  the  material  basis.  It  is  the  soul  which  wants  bread, 
clothing  and  shelter  for  its  body  ;  the  final  want  being  the  growth  and 
perfection  of  that  very  soul  for  infinite  life  in  its  native  realm. 

The  love  of  music,  and  desire  for  its  embodiment  in  melody  and 
harmony,  who  can  conceive  the  altitudes  of  its  upreaching  into  spirit- 
ual spheres? 

True,  we  get  it  through  reed  and  pipe  and  string  and  bird  and 
stream ;  it  comes  to  us  on  the  material  level  in  manifold  forms — but 
the  want,  though  fed  through  fibrous,  wooden  and  metallic  combina- 
tions, is  a  spiritual  want  of  the  most  intricate  and  refined  nature. 

It  is  only  a  concession  to  current  thought,  that  want  can  be  di- 
vided into  material  and  spiritual  wants.  Man  being  a  spirit  em- 
bodied, his  wants  are  all  spiritual ;  but  turning  to  two  worlds,  the  ma- 
terial and  spiritual,  for  supply,  the  character  of  the  supply  is  naturally, 
but  loosely,  applied  as  describing  the  want. 

Wants  are  all  of  the  soul — spiritual — supplies,  both  from  the 
native  regions  of  the  soul — spiritual — and  from  its  foreign  and  ma- 
terial surroundings.  Having  gone  out  like  an  army  into  a  foreign 
country,  it  maintains  a  line  of  supply  with  spiritual  commodity  and 
home,  and  at  the  same  time  forages  upon  the  country  which  it  has 
invaded. 

With  the  understanding  then  that  in  the  division  of  wants  into 
spiritual  .2ind  ffiaterial,  the  distinction  relates  to  the  source  of  supply, 
and  not  to  the  nature  of  the  want,  we  proceed  : 

In  the  matter  of  adornment  alone — in  linens  and  silks,  in  satins 
and  velvet,  in  wraps  and  head-dresses  for  persons,  and  in  the  adorn- 
ments of  table,  furniture,  equipage,  homes,  theatres,  cathedrals,  tem- 
ples or  palaces,  indeed,  respecting  everything  connected  with  modern 
civilized  life,  the  spiritual  want  of  man  is  paramount. 

And  yet,  it  has  long  been  an  open  question  with  economic  writers 
if  the  wants  supplied  by  the  labors  of  the  minister,  teacher,  lawyer, 
editor,  journalist  or  author,  were  wants,  in  considering  the  productive 
forces  and  wealth  of  nations,  worthy  of  attentive  regard  ;  and  whether 
the  labor  which  supplied  those  wants  be  classed  as  productive  labor. 

Considering  differences  of  time  and  place,  and  of  personal  organ- 
ization, the  multitude  of  wants  outgoing  to  supply,  is  inconceivable ; 


SPIRITUAL    AND    MATERIAL    WANTS.  1 3 

and  yet,  they  are  susceptible  of  further  analysis  and  arrangement  un- 
der a  few  subdivisions. 

Material  wants  range  principally  under  the  head  of  light,  fuel, 
food,  clothing  and  shelter. 

Spiritual  wants,  perhaps  because  not  so  easily  designated,  embrace 
a  greater  variety  of  subdivision. 

With  facility  they  fall  under  three  heads  : 

First,  Affectional  wants ;  second,  Intellectual  wants  ;  third.  Mixed, 
•or  semi-intellectuo-affectional  wants 

The  first  comprises  the  selfish  impulsions,  passions  and  desires,  the 
social  affections  and  attachments,  and  the  moral  and  religious  ele- 
ments of  being;  the  second,  embraces  the  perceptions,  memory  and 
reason  ;  the  third,  includes  the  aptitudes  of  art,  of  rhythm,  construc- 
tion, music,  sculpture  and  painting. 

Throughout  this  entire  domain  of  affect  ionality  and  intellectuality, 
through  the  respective  individuals  of  each  of  these  classes,  the  mag- 
netic sparks  of  want,  in  perpetual  career,  are  flashing  throughout  the 
world,  activity  into  effort. 

Want,  being  the  psychological  origin  of  production,  other  distinc- 
tions may  make  its  nature,  scope  and  power  more  intelligible. 

First,  its  rationality  or  folly  ;  second,  its  virtue  or  vice  ;  third,  its 
justice  or  injustice  ;  fourth,  its  power,  scope  and  growth. 

The  rationality  or  folly  of  a  want,  as  well  as  its  virtue  or  vice, 
bring  want  into  prominence,  as  operating  upon  the  particular  individ- 
uals or  society  whom  it  stimulates  to  action. 

Want,  in  itself,  is  a  blind  force,  limited  only  by  the  reason  and  will 
of  person  or  society.  If  not  restrained  through  reason,  it  is  capable 
of  extremities  which  result  in  nothing  but  discomfort  and  distress  to 
the  person  or  society  involved.  Foolish  and  vicious  wants  operate 
most  conspicuously  through  the  appetites  and  the  pleasures  of  sensa- 
tion. Want,  in  search  of  satisfaction,  intuitively  limits  itself  at  the 
verge  of  pain.  Disturbed  function  in  numberless  instances  comes 
long  before  disease  is  suspected  or  distress  established.  It  is  the 
province  of  observation  and  experience  to  note  disturbances  which 
precede  disorganization  and  distress,  fix  the  bounds  toward  which 
want  may  go  with  impunity,  and  place  the  parallels  inside  and  out- 
side of  which  satisfaction  remains  normal ;  and  it  is  the  function  of 
rationality  to  warn,  limit  and  restrain,  through  fear  of  punitive  con- 
sequence, outgo  of  want  beyond  those  limits.  It  is  one  thing  to  know, 
another  to  be  wise  :    and  rationality  is  included  in  wisdom. 

Unlimited  and  unrestrained  wants  of  persons  have  developed 
folly  and  vice  throughout  the  bounds  of  every  civilized  nation. 
Liberty  and  power  combined,  excess  and  immoderation  have  overrun 
reason,  anci  dashing  the  cup  of  pleasure  from  the  hand  of  the  profli- 
gate, have  meted  out  disease  to  persons  and  disaster:  to  societies. 


14     -  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

Self  culture  and  harmony  of  character  is  established  in  the  ration- 
ality and  virtue,  and  personal  and  social  overthrow,  insured  in  the 
folly  and  vice,  of  want. 

Justice  or  injustice  of  want,  relates  not  to  the  results  of  want 
upon  the  person,  or  society  affected  thereby,  but  to  other  persons 
and  to  other  societies,  and  rests  on  the  relative  capacity  of  different 
persons  to  use  or  consume. 

The  capacity  of  use  or  consumption  merely  approximates  equality. 
The  limits  of  the  differences  in  capacity  determine  the  limits  of  just 
and  unjust  want.  Though  injustice  may  and  must  operate  disastrous- 
ly on  its  devotees,  its  principle  force  is  spent  upon  the  innocent, 
unsuspecting  and  powerless. 

An  unjust,  want,  if  enforced,  necessarily  trenches  upon  values  or 
commodities  which  right  has  assigned  to  others. 

Its  tendency  is  to  deprive  others,  either  of  opportunities  for  satis- 
factory exertion,  or  of  the  results  of  enforced  labor. 

Operating  through  individuals,  it  tends  to  disturb  concord  ot 
the  entire  society  to  which  they  belong,  through  communities  to 
impair  the  harmony  of  the  state  or  nation  of  which  they  are  a  part, 
through  nations  to  derange  the  amities  of  the  civilized  world. 

Men,  wanting  desirable  commodity  or  property,  /arely  corlsider 
the  question  how  their  success,  secured  through  current  avenues  of 
achievement,  is  likely  to  affect  the  wants  of  others."  Can  we  get  it  ?  " 
is  the  question  usually  asked  and  answered  ;  and  once  answered,  the 
struggle  is  undertaken  with  as  little  compunction  as  to  reslilts  upon 
others,  as  the  trial  of  strength  between  beasts. 

The  injustice  lies  not  in  determinations  of  the  relative  strength  of 
contending  parties,  but  m  the  use  of  that  strength  in  depriving  the 
weak  of  their  natural  rights.  A  want  which  prompts  the  use  of 
superior  power  to  wrest  from  the  weak  that  which  is  his  own,  is  an 
unjust  and  a  dangerous  want — dangerous  to  person  and  to  society. 

Few,  at  this  stage  of  human  development,  will  hesitate  to  denounce 
acts  which  fall  under  the  term  "aggression,"  but  how  many  have 
thoughtfully  .considered  the  full  import  of  the  term  "  enterprise "  ? 
The  latter  is  supposed  to  cover  characteristics  universally  praise- 
worthy. The  man  of  enterprise  is  the  cynosure  of  industrial  emula- 
tion. He  is  petted  and  praised  without  stint  or  limit.  To  common 
apprehension,  enterprise  is  industrial  virtue.  And  yet  in  this  very 
term,  concealed  under  the  commendable  characteristics  of  activity  and 
industry;  which  it  also  embodies,  is  to  be  found  that  unjust  and 
inconsiderate  want,  that  insatiate  greed,  which  has  disturbed  the 
equities  and  broken  the  harmonies  of  civilized  life.  Fully  analyzed 
enterprise  means,  "Go  in  an4  take."  It  regards  not  the  wants  of 
others,  present  or  future.  It  is  the  prevailing  spirit  of  existing  civil- 
ization. A 


OTHER    CHARACTERISTICS    OF    WANT. 

The  intensity  and  power  of  want,  under  the  term  demand,  is  re- 
cognized by  ecomonic  writers,  as  governing  supply  and  affecting  value. 
But  it  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  intensity  and  power  of 
forces  and  appliances  concerned  in  effecting  supply.  It  is  an  error 
of  current  economic  science  to  assume  that  the  strength  of  want  is 
attended  by  adequate  power,  opportunity  and  facility  of  supply. 

It  is  also  a  current  custom  in  business  circles  to  speak  of  demand 
and  supply,  as  if  their  relations  were  not  interrupted  by  unfair  and 
unjust  obstructions. 

Prof.  Devons  has  made  remarkable  studies  of  the  varying  intensi- 
ties of  demand,  illustrating  its  progressive  decrease  under  easy  supply, 
by  geometrical  diagrams  and  expressions  ;  studies,  which,  owing  to  un- 
considered obstructions  at  present  existing,  depriving  supply  of  facil- 
ity, opportunity  and  power  have  little  practical  application. 

When  want,  intense  and  powerful,  stands per-/orce  apart  from  supply^ 
when  the  gulf  of  impossibility  stretches  its  expanse  between  them, 
want  becomes  the  source  of  incomparable  sufferings.  It  is  just  at 
this  point  also  where  intense  demand  parts  company  with  the  requisite 
power  of  adequate  and  continued  supply,  that  the  "fear  of  want,'^ 
puts  in  most  effective  work.  The  agony  of  blind  and  ineffective  want 
outreaching  to  supply,  is  incomprehensible  and  indescribable. 

It  is  to  points  between  want  and  satisfaction,  between  demand  and 
supply,  that  economic  studies  of  the  future  are  likely  to  be  concen- 
trated. 

The  scope  of  want  is  continually  enlarging.  Commodities,  which,  a 
quarter  of  a  century  since  were  scarcely  known,  have  become  things 
of  daily  use  and  universal  necessity. 

With  new  and  increased  commodities,  new  wants  equally  impera- 
ative  with  the  simplest  want  of  primitive  times,  have  entered  and  per- 
meated the  secret  sources  of  civilized  life.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  to 
laborers  that  they  live  better  to-day  than  kings  lived  five  centuries  since. 
The  question  should  be.  How  has  the  advancement  of  civilization, 
increase  of  commodity  and  wealth  and  the  developement  of  man,, 
affected  the  tastes,  desires  and  want  of  every  unit  of  organized  society  ? 
With  the  want  and  the  willingness  to  labor,  the  supply  should  go 
equally  to  one  as  to  another.  To  tell  the  laborer  that  he  lives  as  well 
as  former  kings,  is  a  shallow  and  repulsive  mode  of  dispersing  the  in- 
ferential and  half  confessed  charge  attached  irresistibly  to  revelers  in 
more  than  royal  wealth,  that  their  gains  are  gotten  through  the  opera- 
tion of  false  and  vicious  principles. 

Time  was,  when,  and  places  are  where,  the  foot  went,  and  now 
goes,  bare.  Even  the  sole  was  and  is  protected  and  hardened  on  y 
by  cuticular  growth. 

Time,  it  may  be,  was  when  men  grew  their  own  clothing  like  the 
zebra  and  the  elephant.     Who  shall  detail  the  trivial  steps,  the  im- 


1 6  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

perceptible  unfoldm  ents  of  want,  through  growth  extended  from 
■earliest  age?  A  barefooted,  or  even  a  sandaled  man  or  woman  in 
civilized  countries,  at  this  time,  would  be  regarded  as  representing 
great  poverty  and  suffering,  or  of  a  development,  little  more  than 
commenced. 

Men  who  do  not  wear  neat-fitting,  pliable,  polished  foot-gear,  are 
regarded  as  improperly  clothed,  and  an  unexpressed  judgment  segre- 
gates them  from  others.  Those  who  decline  from  sheer  indolence, 
are  regarded  with  pity  and  contempt  ;  but  those  who  do  not  want 
them  are  simply  tolerated  in  the  midst  of  a  civilization  to  which  they 
are  foreign.  In  all  the  departments  and  details  of  modern  life,  wants 
have  followed  a  like  unfoldment.  Want,  with  the  requisite  effort  for 
satisfaction,  constitutes  the  accepted  standard  of  civilized  growth. 

It  develops  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  progress.  Wants  supplied  and 
satisfaction  secured,  new  wants,  as  new  scenes  to  an  advancing  trav- 
eler, come  into  view.  The  rest  of  supply  is  followed  by  the  activity 
of  new  demand.  The  night  of  satisfaction  just  precedes  the  morning 
of  new  want. 

Want  grows  as  grows  the  flower,  the  fruit,  the  graceful  willow,  the 
giant  pine  and  the  wide-spreading  banyan  tree. 

It  germs  and  sprouts  and  stalks  and  ears ;  it  buds  and  flowers  and 
fruits. 

It  embodies  the  germs  of  progress — personal,  social,  national  and 
universal. 

It  involves  expansion,  enlargement,  increase,  and,  in  consecutive 
periods  and  civilizations,  what  seem  to  be  new  creations. 

It  is  the  present  advanced  guard  of  an  orderly  movement.  It  flour- 
ishes and  expands  through  the  activity  and  effort  it  inspires. 

Want  may,  however,  as  easily  decay  as  grow. 

A  person,  family,  society  or  nation  which  has  secured,  or  begun 
to  secure  supply  of  demand,  or  satisfaction  of  want  without  effort,  has 
already  been  touched  by  the  blight  of  decay. 

Effort  is  the  born  leader  of  the  great  civilizations  yet  to  come,  and 
without  its  aid  the  present  civilization  of  want  must  yield  to  decay. 

The  great  endeavor  of  ages,  the  objective  point  of  industrial  evolu- 
tion, is  to  place  effort  into  that  spontaneous  movement  of  use — 
movement  without  hope  or  desire  of  profit  or  reward,  which  will 
maintain  incessant  and  unobstructed  activity  throughout  space  and 
time. 

One  has  but  to  look  back  upon  the  lives  of  persons,  families,  na- 
tions and  civilizations,  to  be  assured  that  the  time  of  retrograde  and 
decay  came,  when  want,  with  the  ruling  elements  of  organized  so- 
ciety, was  supplied  to  them  by  effort  of  others. 

One   has  but  to  look  now  at  increasing  numbers  of  the  income 


THE    MISSION    OF   WANT.  1 7 

class,  those  who  live,  wholly  or  partly,  on  effort  of  others  through 
rent,  interest  and  profit ;  has  but  to  contemplate  vast  fortunes  gath- 
ered throughout  the  civilized  world,  which  insure  their  possessors 
against  the  necessity  of  effort ;  has  but  to  reflect  upon  immense  mul- 
titudes, who  are  hoping  and  struggling  to  attain  a  position  in  which 
life  may  be  realized  without  effort ;  has  but  to  count  the  millions 
with  whom  abstinence  from  useful  effort  is  enforced  : — to  know  that 
the  present  civilization  is  rapidly  approaching  a  trying  crisis  ;  to  know 
that  stagnation  in  effort  has  already  begun — stagnation  not  only 
among  the  opulent,  but  among  the  apes  and  dependents  of  the  opu- 
lent ;  not  only  among  the  income  class  and  the  indolent,  but  among 
the  poverty-stricken  and  desperate  who  have  lost  heart,  because  they 
have  lost  hold  upon  the  efficient  factors  of  productive  life.  One  has 
but  to  follow  closely  the  shock  of  contending  forces,  and  pursue  the 
logic  of  conflicting  events,  to  perceive  that  better  principles,  practi- 
calized  by  skillful  and  earnest  men,  can  alone  re-open  the  avenues  of 
effort,  stimulate  it  to  renewed  action  and  avert  disaster. 

Want,  though  a  hard  task-master,  aided  by  effort,  and  sustained 
by  the  allurements  of  satisfaction,  has  been  an  efficient  civiHzer.  Its 
decay,  through  the  decline  of  effort,  at  this  stage  of  human  develop- 
ment, would  be  a  fearful  calamity. 

Rising  at  the  great  Source  of  want,  there,  from  independent  exis- 
tence, want  to  give ;  descending  through  invisible  channels  to  the 
souls  of  men,  where,  on  the  level  of  dependent  life  it  becomes  want 
io  receive,  as  tumultuous  and  glittering  cataracts  falling  upon  expan- 
sive and  ponderous  water-wheels,  set  machinery  in  resounding  mo- 
tion, human  want  throughout  the  world  has  awakened  and  sustained 
the  industrial  operations  and  diversified  activities  in  which  men  en- 
gage, and  of  which  economic  science  treats. 

Civilization  cannot  part  with  it,  until  its  function  has  ended  in  es- 
tablishing a  reign  of  effort,  spontaneous,  hearty,  humane,  useful  and 
perpetual ;  until  human  want  to  acquire  has  been  transformed  into 
god-like  want  to  impart. 


16  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

RIGHTS. 

CHAPTER  IV.,  SECTION  I. 

A  claim  of  rights  is  an  unconscious  recognition  of  an  invisible 
Being,  whence  they  are  derived,  by  whose  judgments  they  are  defined, 
limited  and  enlarged,  and  through  whose  power  they  are  enforced. 
Rights,  primarily  derived,  are  recognized  secondarily  and  in  the 
person,  as  inherent.  They  flow  from  the  same  fountain  as  wants. 
They  constitute  the  material  embodiment  of  wants.  They  furnish 
wants  with  food,  clothing  and  shelter.  They  are  an  outcome  from  the 
same  creative  power.  A  man  who  has  wants,  by  virtue  of  his  wants, 
has  rights.  Wants  existing,  rights,  opening  the  avenues  of  satisfactory 
supply,  are  consequential,  indispensable,  inevitable. 

No  need  go  to  men  for  guarantee  of  rights  ;  their  guarantee  is  one's 
manhood.  We  may  combine  with  others  to  secure  and  maintain 
them,  but  in  our  combination,  while  we  re-establish  for  others,  we  but 
recover  for  ourselves.  God  having  given  them,  society  should  assert 
and  maintain  them. 

A  considerate  generalization  of  rights  involves  three  parties.  First, 
the  Creator;  second,  society;  third,  the  individual.  Being  parts  of 
a  great  whole,  each  may  be  said  to  have  rights  upon  itself  and  the 
others.  The  Creator  has  rights  on  Himself,  on  society  and  on  the 
individual.  Society  has  rights  itself  on  the  Creator  and  on  the  indi- 
vidual. The  individual  has  rights  on  himself,  on  society  and  on  the 
Creator. 

We  are  dealing  principally  with  the  rights  of  man  and  of  society. 
The  chief  end  of  human  rights,  is  to  assure,  through  effort,  adequate 
supply  of  want. 

An  assumption  of  rights  without  impulse  to  effort,  is  impertinent. 
Effort,  or  desire  for  employment  in  production,  is  the  chief  and 
necessary  contingent  of  rights.  A  disposition  to  effort  having  been 
abandoned,  rights  cannot  be  logically  maintained.  When  effort, 
reasonable,  personal,  productive,  useful,  self-sustaining  effort  is  de- 
clined, no  right  to  subsistence,  or  the  sources  of  subsistence,  should 
attach.  It  is  to  be  assumed  that  persons  or  classes  so  declining  have 
decided  to  demise  or  determined  to  secure  subsistence  from  the  labor 
of  others,  either  by  finesse  or  fraud,  or  by  beggary  and  crime.  Rights 
secured  and  effort  declined,  turns  the  currents  of  life  backward,  first, 
upon  self,  next  upon  society.  Though  the  inspiriting  force  of  the 
present  civilization  is  wants,  and  right  to  supply  its  objective  point, 
effort,  love  of  useful,  productive  effort,  is  the  grandest  achievement 


THE    MISSION    OF    EFFORT.  1 9 

possible  to  mankind.  It  is  end,  cause  and  effect  combined  in  act. 
Instead  of  being  the  master  of  want,  effort,  not  having  reached  its 
destiny,  is  as  yet  its  draggling  servant.  A  civilization  of  effort,  whose 
object  is  to  accomplish  rather  than  possess,  to  carry  and  to  give,  rather 
than  to  bring  and  to  get,  would  place  justice  on  the  pinnacle  of  power 
with  rights  and  duties  attendant  on  either  hand,  maintaining  universal 
and  perpetual  circulation  of  commodity  and  wealth. 

Opposed  to  this  ideal,  the  thought  of  industrial  life  is  to  attain  the 
means  of  life,  or  to  live  at  some  future  time,  v/ithout  effort.  Every  man 
looks  forward  to  the. period  when  his  revenue  will  enable  him  to  live 
and  disport  himself  without  labor.  The  difference  between  the  busi- 
ness man  and  the  voluntary  tramp  is  that  the  latter  is  more  selfishly 
wise  ;  he  takes  life  without  effort,  at  once,  while  it  is  going,  and  is 
satisfied  with  slight  drafts  upon  the  common  commodity,  while  the 
former  piles  up  to  a  time  when  life  may  have  gone  ;  drafting,  in  the 
mean  time,  heavily  upon  the  general  wealth.  May  not  the  strained, 
and  oft-times  fraudulent  industry  of  the  former  be  overbalanced 
against  society,  by  the  personal  sacrifices  of  the  latter  ?  Current 
views  of  effort- are  erroneous  in  that  they  tend  to  concentrate  efforts 
of  a  lifetime  into  a  few  years,  and  in  this  short,  sharp  and  decisive 
struggle  of  a  few  years,  obstruct  and  overturn  the  tranquil, 
full  and  rich  economies  primarily  destined  to  give  universal  peace 
and  plenty.  The  ideal  of  effort  is  embodied  in  a  life  of  moderate 
labor  from  youth  to  age,  free  from  fear  of  needy  want  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  hardships  of  accumulation  and  burdens  of  anxious  solicitude 
on  the  other.     "  Give  me  neither  poverty,  nor  riches.'' 

But  while  we  keep  the  ideal  in  view  we  must  treat  conditions  as 
they  are  ;  we  must  take  the  bird  as  it  flies,  man  in  the  movements  of 
ail  orderly  evolution,  and  concern  ourselves  with  that  with  which  he 
is  at  present  most  concerned. 

However  unwisely  we  may  have  managed  them,  rights  are,  neverthe- 
less, inborn  and  practically  inalienable ;  for  though  effort  in  some  may 
fall  to  a  low  minimum,  yet,  no  man  lives  but  is  willing  to  make  some 
effort  in  supply  of  his  own  wants  ;  and  through  that  effort  he  is  en- 
titled to  rights.  They  are  inalienable,  because  they  are  interlaced  in 
the  life  of  want.  It  is  inconceivable  that  a  being,  other  than  a  demon, 
should  create  wants  without  a  corresponding  avenue  of  supply  for 
them.  It  involves  the  possession  of  a  nature  which  would  kindle 
hope  to  laugh  at  despair,  create  life  to  enjoy  the  torments  of  dissolu- 
tion. Men  were  not  created  by  a  being  so  detestable.  One  has  but 
to  consider  the  amenities  and  provisions  of  nature,  follow  the  steps  of 
creation,  and  the  gradations  of  evolution,  to  be  disabused  of  an  idea 
so  abhorrent.  Abundant  materials,  adapted  by  nature,  or  adaptable 
by  effort  to  neutralization  of  want,  everywhere  exist.  Follow  the  life 
of  beings  from  the  simple  cell,  through  the  vegetable    and    animal 


20  WEAI>TH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

kingdoms,  to  the  highest  forms  of  animal  life,  and  not  a  person  or 
thing,  undisturbed  by  the  hand  of  man,  can  be  found  without  access- 
ible provision  for  supply.  Furthermore,  the  closest  analysis  and  full- 
est research  shows  this  provision  has  always  been  completed  before 
creation  was  commenced  ;  that  a  pernicious  credit  system  was  not 
set  in  operation  by  the  Creator. 

Originating  in  the  Infinite,  rights  are  unquestionably  lodged  in  and 
grounded  with  the  finite.  But  this  is  not  all ;  they  descend,  settle 
and  rest  upon  the  world  of  matter,  organized  and  inorganized,  and 
establish  relations  between  persons  and  things.  Says  a  noted  writer,* 
"  right  is  only  intelligible  when  predicated  of  some  person  who  can 
exercise  or  enforce  iu"  Again,  "right  is  a  relation  between  some 
person  and  external  nature.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  abstract 
right." 

Of  late,  an  insidious  and  persistent  attempt  has  been  made  to  cer- 
tify and  insist  on  the  rights  of  things.  Within  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
this  attempt  has  well-nigh  succeeded  in  changing  public  sentiment. 
But  a  revulsion  has  already  set  in  against  a  conviction  so  abhorrent 
to  common  sense  and  common  equity.  An  eloquent  advocate  of 
vested  right  recently  said,  "  Let  it  be  remembered  that  all  property 
and  all  personal  rights  are  held  at  the  will  of  the  majority.'^ 
If  laws  may  be  repealed  by  future  legislatures  and  set  aside  by  subse- 
quent conventions  and  constitutions,  the  permanence  of  investitures 
sought  to  be  established  by  asserting  the  rights  of  property  and  things 
may  prove  delusive.  "  Rights  of  property,"  as  an  expression,  is  either  an 
idiotic  emanation,  or  a  form  of  speech  adapted  and  disseminated  for  the 
purpose  of  confusing  thought,  and  securing  advantage  by  the  mental 
confusion  so  produced.  When  men  learn  to  assume  that  things  have 
rights,  they  are  prepared  to  assent  to  any  proposition,  making  things 
of  equal  importance  in  social,  civil  and  industrial  affairs  with  men  ; 
to  any  proposition  which  would  convert  men  into  things. 

Rights  to  property  is  a  widely  different  proposition.  Men  have  an 
inalienable  right  to  things  in  use  ;  and  so  long  and  to  the  extent  those 
things  can  be  wisely  or  justly  treated  by  society  as  property,  so  long, 
and  to  that  extent,  should  the  right  of  men  to  property,  personal  or 
real,  be  regarded. 

Man's  rights  are  co-extensive  with  the  scope  of  his  existence,  and 
the  possibilities  of  his  unfoldment.  Rights  attach  to  both  his  material 
and  spiritual  nature. 

He  has  rights  to  the  possession  and  use  of  created  substances  and 
entities,  which  render  existence  satisfactory  and  development  full,  rich 
and  harmonious  ;  which  enable  him  to  nourish  and  cover  his  body, 
shelter  it  from  the  pitiless  storm  and  blazing  sun,  give  it  warmth  and 
rotundity,  and  cause  its  changing  circulation  to  run  with  ruggedness 

*F.  M.Pixley,  Mayi  '86. 


GENERAL    RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  2  1 

and  swell  with  fatness  ;  rights  which  open  opportunities  and  facilities 
for  social,  intellectual  and  religious  growth,  and  which  afford  ample 
development  to  his  entire  spiritual  nature. 

He  has  rights  to  the  free  use  of  land,  air,  water  ;  to  raw  material 
in  its  magnificent  diversities  ;  to  the  uplifting  and  expanding  power 
of  the  active  principles  ;  to  nature's  provision  for  the  human  race  ;  to 
the  opportunities  and  facilities  for  labor  and  self-employment  ;  and 
society,  itself  being  a  growth — equally  with  a  forest  of  trees  or  shoal 
of  fish — to  the  collective  and  contemporaneous  results  of  intellectual, 
moral,  social,  religious  and  political  development. 


WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 


THE  RIGHTS  TO  PROVISIONS  ;  TO  FOOD, 
RAIMENT  AND  SHELTER. 

CHAPTER  IV..  SECTION  II. 

It  becomes  necessary  to  present  in  specific  form  an  unusual  claim 
as  to  the  rightful  belonging  of  every  man  disposed  to  apply  his  labor 
to  the  production  of  wealth  and  the  supply  of  his  wants.  The  claim 
to  be  presented  is,  that  by  virtue  of  his  birth  and  manhood,  he  is  en- 
titled to  provisions  in  supply  of  his  wants  ;  to  a  proportional  share  of 
whatever  creative  labor  has  produced. 

It  is  often  carelessly  said  that  "  the  world  owes  every  man  a  liv- 
ing." In  this  utterance  lies  a  truth  and  an  error;  and  the  error  is 
likely  to  embody  a  crime,  or  intent  of  crime,  against  society.  In  the 
sense  that  the  Creator  has  laid  up  in  the  storehouse  of  nature  an 
.  abundance  of  wealth  for  the  present  and  most  necessitous  wants  of 
man,  and  ample  raw  material  on  which  his  labor  may  be  expended 
in  further  supply  of  want,  the  utterance  is  true ;  but  in  the  sense  that 
one  mdn  has  a  right  to  take,  use  and  consume  what  the  labor  of  an- 
other has  gathered  or  produced,  it  is  an  error,  and  involves  a  criminal 
conception. 

The  claim  of  ample  provision  of  food,  clothing  and  shelter  for  one 
cycle  of  production,  lies  upon  grounds  so  fundamental  that  it  cannot 
be  brushed  away  by  a  simple  denial.  An  imperative  sentiment  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  shock  of  which  every  com.munity  is  sensible  when  a 
man  has  been  starved  or  frozen  to  death.  Any  community  knowingly 
consenting  to  such  privation,  with  result  so  disastrous,  would  be 
thought  to  have  advanced  in  civilization  no  farther  than  the  beasts. 
It  is  a  general  statement  that  the  privation  involved  in  want  of  food, 
raiment  and  shelter  is  evidence  of  a  social  crime.  Nor  does  this  rest 
in  the  public  consciousness  on  the  ground  of  mere  sympathy,  and 
the  charity  likely  to  arise  therefrom.  A  wide-spread,  if  not  universal, 
sentiment  prevails  in  all  civilizations  that  men  have  a  right  to  the 
means  of  subsistence.  The  national  declaration  of  independence 
assuring  the  right  of  every  man  to  "  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,"  impliedly  asserts  the  right  of  every  man  to  the  necessary 
means,  embodied  in  a  common  heritage,  to  maintain  life,  liberty 
and  happiness  ;  especially  to  feed,  clothe  and  house  himself.  No 
one  will  deny  that  the  declaration  expresses  a  rightful  demand ;  if 
not,  then  no  one  can  deny  the  legitimate  inference  drawn  therefrom, 
that   all  men  are  entitled,  not  of  charity,  but   of  right  to  the  food, 


OBJECTIONS    ARGUED,  23 

raiment  and  shelter  provided  by  nature  for  the  entire  human  race, 
whether  the  provision  be  in  form  of  natural  wealth,  or  raw-material 
still  subject  to  additions  susceptible  of  being  made  by  human  labor. 

But  admit  this  claim  can  be  made  ohly  on  the  ground  of  extreme 
indigence,  to  be  relieved  through  the  interference  of  charitable  effort. 
It  is  proved  *that  charity  is  but  the  work  of  restitution;  restitu- 
tion of  that  which  had  been  taken  previously  by  and  through  prior 
appropriation  and  subsequent  inequitable,  holding  of  natural  values 
embodied  in  the  common  heritage ;  that  it  seems  like  uncompensated 
labor,  but  that  the  absence  of  compensation  was  a  mere  seeming  ; 
that  compensation  had  been  previously  taken  by  the  lords  of  industry 
to  a  large  amount  over  and  above  labor  performed  by  them,  and 
charity  is  an  indirect  work  of  returning  to  the  indigent  a  portion  of 
the  abstractions  which  had  made  them  indigent.  It  is  there  shown  also 
that  the  real  labor  of  benevolence  embraces  only  those  cases  of  destitu- 
tion which  result  from  sickness,  disablement  and  unavoidable  acci- 
dents. It  is  further  shown  that  all  other  work,  seemingly  benevolent, 
falls  under  the  limitations  of  productive  labor,  and  compensation  has 
been  exacted  from  the  laborers  who  have  become  destitute,  long 
before  the  work  of  charity  or  restitution  has  begun. 

Hence,  though  we  admit  the  assertion  that  many  men  are  entitled 
to  provisions,  to  food,  clothing  and  shelter  only  on  the  ground  of 
charity,  charity  itself  being  but  restitution,  the  foundation  of  an  ar- 
gument against  the  original  proposition  that  all  men  are  entitled  to 
provision  for  a  single  cycle  of  production,  is  destroyed.  From  what- 
ever side  the  question  is  investigated,  it  appears  that  the  industrial 
rights  of  man  have  never  been  regarded  by  the  strong,  as  having  an 
existence  sufficiently  palpable  to  be  worthy  their  distinguished  con- 
sideration. 

From  the  stand-point  of  an  equitable  capitalism,  Mr.  George  has 
made  a  forcible  argument,  showing  conclusively  that  laborers  in 
active  employment,  first  applying  their  labor  to  the  raw  material  held 
by  the  capitalist,  through  wages  received,  the  equivalent  value  for 
which  laborers  have  first  transferred  to  the  capitalist,  each  laborer 
supplies  his  own  provisions,  his  own  food,  clothing  and  shelter,  and 
is  indebted  not  for  one  moment  to  the  capitalist ;  the  latter,  receiving 
beforehand  even  more  value  than  the  wages  represent,  is  the  party 
under  obligation.  While  this  point  is  well  taken,  and  the  argument 
places  the  laborer  in  actual  service  in  an  independent  position,  grant- 
ing, rather  than  receiving  favors,  the  entire  aspect  of  the  case  changes 
when  it  is  considered  with  reference  to  the  laborer  out  of  employment. 
Mr.  George's  argument  makes  no  position,  secures  no  provision,  no 
food,  raiment  or  shelter  for  the  laborer  out  of  employment,  millions  of 
whom,   at  the   present   moment,    are   so   circumstanced.     So  far  as 

'  See  Chapter  on  Labor. 


24  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

rights  are  concerned,  they  are  in  possession  of  no  rights  save  to 
suffer  and  die ;  or,  at  best,  to  sell  their  bodies  and  goods, 
their  services,  honorable  or  dishonorable,  elevating  or  prostituting,  to 
such  of  their  fellow-men  as  have  secured  and  held  from  them  through 
prior  appropriation,  permanent  investure,  and  buttressing  law,  the 
very  land,  raw  material,  facilities  of  production  and  nature's  provision 
for  supply  of  immediate  want,  which  is  their  natural  inalienable  right; 
deprivation  of  which  make%  them  dependent  and  suppliant  before 
their  equals. 

Much  ado,  with  ample  reason,  is  made,  concerning  the  increase  of 
corruption  in  politics  ;  the  readiness  with  which  men  prostitute  them- 
selves for  a  small  compensation,  sell  their  vote  at  the  polls,  in  the  leg- 
islature and  in  congress.  Corruption  is  not  confined  alone  to  those 
who  sell.  It  runs  even  more  rankly  with  those  who  bribe  and  buy. 
Corruption  exists  in  high  life  as  well  as  low,  and  while  there  is  no 
adequate  palliation  for  the  former,  a  strong  fundamental  and  impera- 
tive reason  exists  with  the  latter.  Current  theory  of  economic  sci- 
ence holds  that  a  man  must  have  something  to  exchange,  to  sell ; 
else  he  must  live  alone  on  what  he  himself  produces  or  starve.  If  a 
laborer  is  driven  from  the  fields  of  production  by  prior  appropriation 
and  permanent  investure,  he  can  produce  pothing.  He  cannot  there- 
fore live  on  what  he  produces.  He  turns,  then,  from  the  objec- 
tive to  the  subjective,  to  find  something  to  sell.  He  is  supposed  to 
own  himself  and  can  sell  himself,  or  what  isthe  same  thing,  his  services, 
wherever  and  whenever  he  can  find  a  market.  If' there  is  no  demand 
for  his  virtuous  services,  if  the  markets  are  filled  with  commodities 
which  capitalists  can  not  sell  at  a  satisfactory  profit,  if  stagna- 
tion at  the  centres  of  exchange  sets  back  and  closes  work-shops, 
factories  and  fields  of  agriculture,  if  he  is  denied  the  right  of  labor  as 
an  employee  as  well  as  an  independent  laborer,  he  has  no  other  re- 
source but  to  sell  such  services  as  remain,  which  are  in  demand.  A 
legislator,  being  compensated  by  the  people,  through  taxation,  has  no 
excuse  whatever  in  necessity  for  swerving  from  principle,  but  the  un- 
employed voter,  despoiled  of  his  natural  rights  in  the  soil,  in  raw 
material,  in  machinery  and  in  provision  for  his  necessary  wants,  and 
without  compensative  employment,  has  an  economic  reason  for  selling 
his  vote  at  the  polls.  It  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  market  aff"ords 
no  demand  for  other  services  or  franchises  which  he  has  to  sell,  and 
he  is  driven  by  a  necessity,  for  the  existence  of  which  he  is  not  re- 
sponsible, to  sell  his  services  and  franchises,  his  management  of  clubs, 
primaries  and  elections,  his  vote,  to  political  managers  who  open  an 
economic  market  for  such  goods. 

But  the  question  arises,  why  are  political  managers  affected  in 
their  public  work  by  corrupting  influences?  The  answer  involving 
only    the    external    incitements   to  corruption  is  not  far  to  find.     In 


THE  SOURCE  OF  PUBLIC  CORRUPTION.  25 

America  we  claim  to  be  a  "nation  of  sovereigns."  It  is  a  com- 
mon expression  emphasizing  the  commonly  accepted  doctrine  of 
equality,  but  carries  with  it  the  idea  of  kingly  prerogative,  of  life 
without  what  has  been  recognized  as  productive  labor,  of  decorative 
displays  in  connection  with  expensive  modes  of  living,  of  servants  in 
livery,  studs  and  equipages;  of  royal  residences,  of  fetes,  tournments 
and  pageantry.  With  a  wide  territory  open  to  appropriations  directly 
or  indirectly,  with  a  government  confirming  such  approoriations 
and  holding  them  for  the  appropriators  by  a  powerful  and  steady 
hand,  and  besides,  conceding  to  individuals  and  corporations, 
special  franchises  and  opportunities,  on  the  false  theory  of  public 
benefits  to  be  subserved,  a  few  men  have  acquired  power  and 
wealth  exceeding  the  power  and  wealth  held  by  many  sovereigns, 
and  the  balance  of  the  population  have  flattered  and  yet  flatter 
themselves,  that  through  personal  effort  and  energetic  use  of  the 
means  at  command,  their  advance  to  similar  power  and  prerogative 
is  of  necessity  assured.  Unconsciously  instilled  also  with  the  basal 
principle  of  current  economic  science,  that  one  man,  however  poorly 
accoutred  for  the  industrial  conflict,  is  equal  to  another  man  pano- 
plied from  head  to  foot  with  all  the  appliances  of  industrial  warfare, 
they  delude  themselves  into  the  belief,  that  the  time  is  not  far  off 
when  this  ideal  of  citizenship  will  be  realized  through  their  own 
eff'orts.  It  is  a  dark  and  damning  delusion.  If  the  entire  wealth  of 
the  country  were  equally  distributed,  every  person  would  be  a  sover- 
eign to  the  extent  that  that  wealth,  valued  at  from  one  to  two  thousand 
dollars,  would  make  him  a  sovereign.  And  yet,  under  this  delusion 
and  the  further  delusion  industriously  promoted  by  interested 
parties  that  energy  however  exercised,  and  industry  however  applied, 
will  lead  to  the  acquirement  of  wealth  and  power  for  the  energetic  and 
industrious,  the  work  of  making  a  nation  of  sovereigns  goes  bravely 
forward  !  But  in  some  mysterious  way,  not  recognized  by  the  energetic 
and  industrious,  the  wealth  of  others  accumulates  and  their  own  di- 
minishes. And  yet  the  goal  of  their  ambition  is  before  them  ;  the 
palaces  and  pageants  of  the  successful  are  a  never-ceasing  spur  to  their 
enterprise,  and  they  go  blindly  forward,  believing  that  it  is  their  own 
fault  they  do  not  succeed,  and  clutch  unscrupulously  at  anything 
placed  within  their  reach  which  may  help  them  forward  to  the  destiny 
which  they  feel  is  for  them. 

Not  actually  in  need  as  is  the  poor  man  who  sells  his  vote  at  the 
pools,  but  desirous  of  realizing  a  false  ideal  of  citizenship  through 
the  possession  of  wealth,  rather  than  a  true  ideal  through  intelli- 
gence, personal  industry,  and  virtue,  he  is  open  to  the  first  and  all 
tenders,  either  of  money,  position  or  power,  which  will  open  his  ca- 
reer or  promote  to  its  advancement.  A  member  of  the  legislature, 
finally  realizing  the  impossibiUty  of  securing  wealth  as  others  have 


2  6  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF   NATIONS. 

done,  sells  his  services  and  his  vote  for  a  few  hundred  or  thousand 
dollars.  A  member  of  congress  disposes  of  his  political  and  social 
belongings,  as  he  would  his  horse  or  his  cattle.  Judges  on  the  bench, 
and  executives  at  the  centre  of  power,  touched  by  the  general  fever 
for  accumlation,  for  advancement  to  the  condition  of  sovereigns,  se- 
cure the  advantages  their  positions  afford  them,  to  advance  their  own 
interests  regardless  of  the  public  welfare. 

But,  if  these  men  sell,  who  buys?  Demand  always  precedes  supply. 
Even  in  nature,  where  it  is  apparent  that  provision  has  been  made 
for  the  race  before  advent  to  material  existence,  the  want  of  the 
Creator  to  give,*  has  preceded,  the  creative  labor  of  supply.  So  like- 
wise want  on  the  part  of  men  has  preceded  prehensive  f  labor. 
It  is  the  rule,  that  men  never  produce,  or,  offer  to  exchange  any- 
thing until  a  demand  has  arisen  from  some  source.  The  action  of  buy- 
ers, always  at  first,  precedes  the  action  of  sellers,  however  afterward 
the  impulse  may  alternate  between  buyers  and  sellers.  Demand  is  the 
active  etlEicient  primary  cause  of  supply.  It  is  so  with  the  sale  of  votes, 
influence,  position  and  power.  If  we  find  men  in  public  and  private 
life  selling  their  suffrages  and  influence,  it  is  an  indisputable  ir^fer- 
ence  that  the  buyers  are  primarily  responsible  for  the  selling. 

Hence  the  corruption  of  the  times  is  logically  traceable  directly  tO' 
that  class  of  citizens,  who  have  already  become  sovereigns,  through 
prior  appropriation  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  manipulation  of  them 
to  their  own  advancement  ;  traceable  to  the  corrupting  influence 
emanating  from  accumulated  wealth,  continually  in  effort  to  maintain 
and  increase  accumulations.  Of  these  classes,  those  who  originate 
and  promote  corrupting  influences  and  buy  ;  those  who  sell,  not  for 
necessities'  sake,  but  for  the  love  of  more  lucre  to  bring  themselves 
to  an  equality  with  the  most  powerful  among  a  nation  of  sovereigns ; 
and  those  at  the  very  bottom,  deprived  of  the  means  of  self  employ- 
ment, and  refused  employment  by  those  who  hold  in  their  possession 
ample  means  of  employment  for  all,  who,  willing  to  sell  their  useful 
and  honest  labor  for  which  there  is  no  demand,  are  driven  by  neces- 
sity to  sell  their  political  influence  and  votes  for  subsistence  and  com- 
forts, to  which  all  willing  to  labor,  are  entitled ;  of  these  classes,  the 
most  innocent  is  pronounced  by  public  sentiment  the  most  guilty,, 
while  the  most  guilty,  the  responsible  originators  of  all  corruption  in 
high  and  low  life,  from  the  first  land  grabber  in  Virginia  §  to  the  last 
water  grabbers  in  California,  |  are  not  only  adjudged  guiltless,  but 
are  held  in  the  highest  personal  and  social  estimation  ! 

*See  chapter  on  Wants. 
tSee  chapter  on  Labor. 
§Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 
jThe  appropriating  syndicate. 


ARGUMENT    CONTINUED.  27 

What  is  the  standard  of  public  judgement,  it  it  is  not  that  the 
wealthy  man  is  the  truly  honest  and  good  man  ?  One  has  but  to 
note  the  universal  toadyism  to  wealth  to  become  satisfied  that  the 
large  middle  class,  those  who  have  not  become,  but,  who  are 
assiduously  straggling  to  become  sovereigns  are  goaded  on  to  activity 
and  enterprise,  by  a  perverted  ideal  of  what  constitutes  good  citizen- 
ship and  a  delusive  belief  that  that  ideal  through  personal  energy 
can  be  realized  by  all. 

But  let  us  return  from  this  diversion,  to  the  rights  of  all,  and  espec- 
ially of  unemployed  laborers,  to  food,  raiment  and  shelter. 

We  have  seen  that  those  under  employment  have  the  opportunity 
of  supplying  their  own  wants — after  they  have  by  their  labors  supplied 
the  wants  of  their  employers  and  their  dependents — through  wages 
received  ;  that  society,  by  its  acts  of  charity — which  is  but  restitu- 
tion— recognizes  the  right  of  every  man  to  ample  subsistence,  and 
that  the  declaration  of  rights,  which  in  asserting  the  inalienable  right 
of  every  man  to  "  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  "  asserts 
every  man's  right  to  the  natural  means  of  supply  neccessary  to  pro- 
mote and  enforce  said  rights. 

But  it  will  be  shown,  moreover,  that  these  claims  are  based  on  ample 
provision  made  by  the  Creator  and  stored  away  in  nature  previous  to 
the  advent  of  man  :  therefore,  that  no  man  should  be  dependent  upon 
any  other  man  for  provisions,  at  least  during  a  single  cycle  of  produc- 
tion. Does  any  intelligent  person  deny  that  without  the  application  of 
human  labor  or  previous  storage  by  men  on  human  account,  ample 
provision  of  food  and  such  raiment  and  shelter  as  was  required  had 
been  made  by  creative  action  ?  that  the  want  of  the  Creator-  to  give, 
to  provide  for  creatures  incited  the  requisite  creative  labor  ?  If  so, 
he  has  but  to  follow  up  the  order  of  creation  as  pointed  out  by  tradi- 
tion, history  or  science  to  overcome  such  denial.  It  may  be  asserted 
without  the  possibility  of  successful  disproof,  that  no  order  of  beings, 
and  hence  no  single  being,  was  ever  brought  into  existence  whose 
food  and  other  requisites  of  life  and  growth  had  not  been  previously 
prepared  by  creative  labor. 

Let  us  briefly  and  in  general,  take  cognizance  of  the  order  of  cre- 
ation and  the  connected  fact  of  previous  provision,  and  see  what  is 
taught.  Concurrent  philosophy  and  science  refer  to  the  earth's  condi- 
tion in  the  infant  days  after  it  had  parted  company  with  the  parent  sun, 
as  a  fluent,  fluxy  mass  moving  about  the  sun  under  the  operation  of 
centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces,  in  a  state  of  magnetic  upheaval  and 
unceasing  and  universal  combustion.  Fire,  continuing  through  geons 
immeasurable,  as  under  like  condition  even  now  on  a  small  scale  with 
semi-fluent  substances,  gradually  separated  the  earth  into  solids,  liquids 
and  gases  ;  solids  which  exist  now  as  igneous  rocks  and  land  ;  liquids 
embracing  the    earth's  oceans  ;  and  gases,  its  subterraneous  deposits 


2'8  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

and  the  circumfluent  atmosphere.  Succeeding  changes  led  to  evap- 
orization  and  to  subsequent  establishment  of  water  currents  moving  up- 
'  wardly  in  mist  and  cloud  from  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  and  down- 
wardly, back  to  the  sea  through  the  channels  of  brooks  and  rivers. 
These  water  currents  traversing  first  the  air,  then  the  land,  in  their 
perpetual  circulations,  broke  down  the  surface  of  igneous  rocks  and 
originated  by  slow  gradation  the  vast  system  of  aqueous  deposits 
since  upturned  to  geological  research  ;  but  what  is  more  pertinent  to 
our  inquiry,  inaugurated  in  every  portion  of  the  globe  the  various 
soils,  which,  with  the  ocean  and  atmosphere,  constituted  the  original 
basis  of  all  subsequent  life  and  growth. 

Vegetable  life  had  not  yet  appeared,  because  preparation  for  its 
maintenance,  still  progressing,  was  not  yet  completed.  We  have  seen 
how  water  and  soil,  two  prerequisites  of  vegetable  existence  have 
been,  through  the  influence  of  heat,  wrought  out  of  the  primeval  con- 
fusion and  chaos.  But  the  atmosphere  contains  the  mystery  of  vege- 
table existence.  It  is  briefly  told  in  the  presumption  that  combustion 
in  primeval  periods,  continuing  as  it  did  for  ages,  resulted  then  as  it  does 
now  in  the  production  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  of  necessity,  then, 
heavily  loaded  the  atmosphere  therewith.  The  condition  of  the  atmos- 
phere was,  and  is  now  in  small  [)roportion,  the  characteristic  and  in- 
dispensible  condition  of  luxuriant  and  massive  vegetable  development. 
Carbon  in  some  assimilable  combination  was  prerequisite.  Its  excess, 
other  conditions  being  favorable,  insured  such  vast  vegetable  growths 
as  anteceded  the  world's  coal  deposits.  Present  science  tells  us  that 
ammonia  and  the  earths  of  the  soil,  water  in  the  oceans  and  streams, 
and  carbonic  acid  gas  in  the  atmosphere,  when  combined,  constitute 
the  rich  and  ample  food  of  vegetable  organisms.  These  things, 
evolved  by  combustion  from  the  common  flux,  antedate  all  germs  and 
seeds,  and  their  preparation  constituted  the  creative  provision  to 
nourish  the  first  order  of  organized  beings.  In  them  we  have  the 
food  of  the  vegetable  world  fully  provided,  before  vegetation,  in  the 
m.idst  of  general  combustion,  could  live. 

But,  food  to  the  vegetable,  it  is  death  to  the  animal.  It  is 
impossible  for  the  latter  to  live  in  an  excess  of  carbonic  acid  gas. 
Before  animals  could  be  brought  into  prominent  existence,  carbonic 
acid  must  needs  be  diminished  and  removed  and» oxygen  made  to  pre- 
ponderate. While  carbonic  acid  gas  is  the  principle  atmospheric  ali- 
ment of  the  vegetable,  oxygen  is  the  most -important  aerie  food  of  the 
animal ;  water  and  soil  in  various  ways  being  common  to  both.  In 
preparing  the  way  for  animal  life  the  atmosphere  was  needs  cleared 
of  an  excess  of  carbonic  acid,  and  in  its  stead  an  excess  of  oxygen 
placed. 

It  is  not  pertinent  to  the  purpose  of  the  argument  to  refer  es- 
pecially   to   the    marvelous   and    compensatory    skill,    wisdom    .and 


PRIMITIVE    PROVISION    FOR    LABORERS.  *  29 

power,  through  which  these  changes  are  wrought.  It  may  be  merely 
remarked  that  the  atmosphere  being  filled  with  food  for  the  vege- 
table, the  vital  efficiencies  in  the  leaves  of  plants  decomposed  the  car- 
bonic acid  gas  brought  to  them  by  the  air,  taking  up  the  carbon  with- 
in the  structure  of  the  organism  and  setting  the  oxygen  free  to  give 
a  new  life  and  character  to  the  atmosphere.  During  untellable  peri- 
ods this  process  of  vegetable  growth,  fed  by  carbonic  acid,  proceeded  ; 
and  at  the  same  moment  and  through  the  same  process,  the  aeriel 
pabulum  of  animal  life  was  gathering  in  the  atmosphere.  Excess  of 
the  former — carbonic  acid  gas — entirely  disappeared,  and  excess  of 
the  latter — oxygen — accumulated  with  the  same  degree  of  rapidity. 
As  carbonic  acid  came  into  and  filled  the  air  with  an  excess,  vegetable 
growth  was  not  only  made  possible  but  became  luxuriant ;  as  it  went 
out  of  the  air  and  oxygen  took  its  place,  vegetable  growth  declined 
and  animal  existence  became,  at  first  possible,  then  luxuriant. 
Animal  life  made  its  appearence,  only  after  food  of  the  animal  had 
been  prepared  for  its  origin  and  development,  not  only  in  and  from 
the  water,  but  in  and  from  the  atmosphere.  It  was  a  simple  and 
gradual,  but  an  extensive  and  sweeping  change.  Animal  life  of  the 
lower  white  blood  species,  came  into  existence  on  the  appearance  of 
a  minimum  of  oxygen,  sufficient  to  give  it  the  necessary  pabulum 
for  a  low  vitality ;  and,  as  the  oxygen  in  the  atmosphere  thickened, 
and  the  carbonic  acid  disappeared  affording  better  and  richer  forms 
of  nourishment,  better  and  higher  forms  of  animals  came  into  orderly 
existence,  surviving,  and  developing  on  food  previously  prepared  and 
stored  up  in  nature's  reservoirs  for  their  sustenance.  Gradually 
advancing  through  an  increase  of  oxygenized  food  from  the  white 
corpuscular  to  the  red  corpuscular  blooded  animals,  at  last  man 
appeared  on  the  arena  of  life  previously  provided,  as  were  all  other 
animals  with  ample  food,  and  adequate  clothing,  and  shelter  ;  and, 
unlike  most  animals  with  capacity  of  increased  want  and  power  of 
supplying  the  same. 

Thus  it  is  abundantly  evident  that  for"  both  classes  of  organized 
beings,  vegetable  and  animal,  ample  provision  was  made  in  nature 
for  full  supply  of  the  requisite  nutriment,  previous  to  the  germina- 
tion of  their  seed  and  ova,  and  it  is  susceptible  of  proof  that  the  same 
antecedent  provision,  which  was  made  for  the  wants  of  these  two 
classes  of  organized  beings  was  made  not  alone  for  each  genus,  and 
for  each  included  species,  but  for  each  and  every  individual  of  each 
species.  Not  only  was  the  prepared  material  of  their  respective  or- 
ganisms at  hand  to  be  drawn  by 'the  vital  forces,  around  and  into 
their  seed  and  ova,  but  the  food  of  every  animal  was  prepared  by 
creative  labor,  before  it  came  into  active  existence;  and  not  only 
food,  nutritious  and  ample,  but  such  raiment  as  the  then  climatic 
conditions  required  for  comfort,  was  within  full  reach  of  all. 


30  '  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

The  statement  is  equally  true  regarding  provision  made  for  the 
maintainance  of  man,  as  that  made  for  the  lower  animals  ;  only  for  the 
former  it  was  more  ample  and  complete,  as  his  wants  and  aspirations 
were  higher  and  more  diversified. 

Thus  the  first  phalanx  of  laborers,  such  as  they  were-  -principally 
prehensive*  laborers,  but  progressively  becoming  laborers  of  increase 
and  transformation — was  amply  supplied  with  the  requisites  of  mainte- 
nance for  the  first  cycle  of  their  industrial  life,  and  had  the  wants  of 
men  remained  stationary,  probably  for  all  succeeding  time.  And  what 
was  provided  for  the  first  generation  or  phalanx  of  men  has  been  provid- 
ed also  for  every  succeeding  generation  or  phalanx.  The  ancestral  pro- 
vision through  successive  cycles  of  creative-labor  has  run  down  the  stream 
of  time  more  enduringly  and  effectively  than  the  blood  of  protoplas- 
mic ancestors  has  promoted  an  unbroken  line  of  genealogy  ;  because 
creative  labor,  whatever  man  may  or  may  not  have  done,  is  ever  active 
through  unceasing  cycles,  making  antecedent  provision  for  all  successive 
generations.  It  is  not  important  to  inquire  how  soon  cycles  of  produc- 
tion in  supply  of  new  wants,  crystallized  into  regular  industrial  life.  It  is 
enough  to  know  that,  until  the  want  of  men  advanced  from  the  most 
primitive  form,  nature  supplied  food,  raiment  and  shelter  ;  and  further- 
more, at  the  very  time,  and  during  the  period  new  wants  were  in 
process  of  supply  through  variously  developed  forms  of  human  labor, 
the  food,  raiment  and  shelter  supplied  by  creative  labor,  fully  sus- 
tained the  life,  vigor,  hope  and  ambition  of  the  laborers  ;  it  is  enough 
to  know  that  the  same  effort  which  brought  primitive  supplies  into  ex- 
istence and  to  perfection  has  operated  through  all  ages  and  is  now  as 
active  as  at  any  preceding  period,  producing  supplies  for  every  indi- 
vidual of  the  world's  present  population  ;  supplies  to  which  every 
man  has  a  proportional  and  inalienable  right  irrespective  of  the  addi- 
tional provisions  his  own  labor  may  or  may  not  produce. 

Here  the  question  imperatively  arises.  What,  during  the  lapse  of 
time,  has  become  of  the  common  provision  of  food  for  the  human 
family  ?  Why,  for  a  single  first  cycle  of  production  is  that  mass  of 
laborers — why  is  a  single  laborer — desirous  of  undertaking  the  inde- 
pendence of  self-employment,  obliged  to  appeal  to  their  fellow  labor- 
ers for  provision  and  seed,  or  abandon  their  commendable  and  right- 
ful designs  ?  It  is  because  the  ancestral  fund  of  provision,  of  food, 
raiment  and  shelter,  by  a  gradual  and  seemingly  equitable  process 
of  appropriating  raw  material, — seed  and  ova — and  the  soil, — 
the  requisite  matrix  of  birth  and  development — has  been  abstracted 
ft-bm  nature's  arhple  store  and  amassed  deposits  ;  because  collective 
ownership  and  control  has  insensibly  passed,  without  adequate  and 
opportune  resistence  through  a  species  of  spoliation,  to  individual 
ownership  and  control. 

*See  chapter  on  Labor. 


PHILOSOPHY    AND    LAW    OF    SAVING.  3 1 

By  what  process  ?  Through  a  primitive  saving  not  only  of  what  be- 
longed to  one^s  self  but  what  belonged  to  many  others. 

Saving  is  the  passive  act  whereby  according  to  economic  science, 
capital  and  wealth  are  accumulated.  It  includes  a  characteristic 
which  is  exceedingly  praiseworthy,  viz  :  that  of  economy^  which  involves 
a  careful  use  of  what  one  possesses,  without  waste.  But  it  includes 
another  characteristic  which  is  deserving  of  the  strongest  censure  : 
viz.,  that  of  hoarding  for  the  mere  love  of  hoarding  under  a  real  or 
pretended  fear  of  need. 

But  hoarding  what  belongs  rightfully  to  one's  self  is  one,  and  what 
belongs  rightfully  to  others,  is  another  proposition.  No  maximum  nor 
minimum  can  effect  the  essential  virtue  of  the  former,  nor  the  essen- 
tial vice  of  the  latter. 

Saving  is  based  on  surplusages.  It  is  possible  only  when  some- 
thing has  been  produced  by  human  or  creative  labor,  or  both,  which 
can  be  saved  ;  when  surplusages  exist  after  use  has  been  fully  sub- 
served ;  and  saving  can  be  pronounced  commendable  only  after  the 
saver  has  fully  consumed  what  his  strength,  development  and  com- 
fort require,  and  when  his  saving  is  confined  alone  to  his  own  surplus- 
ages derived  from  his  own  labor  and  his  portion  of  the  common 
heritage.  But  the  saving  which  has  contributed  to  make  some  labor- 
ers capitalists  and  employers  and  others  employees,  has  included  not 
only  the  results  of  the  capitalist's  own  labor  and  his  own  portion  of 
the  common  heritage,  but  the  result  of  his  employees'  labor  and  their 
portion  of  the  common  heritage  ;  values  which  belong,  by  natural 
equity,  inalienably  to  the  employed  laborers.  It  is  this  remarkable 
phase  of  saving,  saving  supplemented  ultimately  by  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery which  is  freely  and  indiscriminately  commended  by  econ- 
omic writers,  saving  without  sacrifice,  which  has  enabled  capitalists 
at  one  and  the  same  time  to  live  luxuriously  and  accumulate  rapidly. 
Failure  of  economic  writers,  to  note  the  serio-comic  aspect  of  their 
theory,  and  the  utter  folly  of  their  advice,  has  resulted  from  their 
failure  to  recognize  value  except  in  use  and  exchange,  and  their  de- 
termination to  ignore  value  inherent  and  as  produced  by  creative 
labor. 

Saving  is  imputable  alone  to  things  which  embody  increase  and 
decrease.  Its  especial  use  is  to  prevent  natural  decay,  or  the  unnat- 
ural destruction  of  values  produced  by  both  creative  and  human 
labor ;  values  which  though  distinct  are  not  always  separable.  Land 
cannot  be  saved  because  it  cannot  be  destroyed ;  nor  can  it  in  any 
substantial  sense  be  either  increased  or  decreased.  But  raw-material, 
—the  rudiments  of  food,  raiment  and  shelter — wealth, — which  has 
grown  through  operation  of  the  productive  agencies,  from  seeds  and 
eggs — are  susceptible  of  increase  and  decrease. 

These  things  constituting  the  source  of  capital  and  wealth,  as  the 


32  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

terms  are  herein  used,  *the  current  assertion  that  capital  and  wealth 
is  accumulated  by  saving,  embodies  an  undeniable  truth.  But  the  truth, 
as  presented  by  economic  writers,  carries  with  it  sonie  most  grievous 
errors  and  involves  some  most  damagmg  results.  Presented  as  it  is, 
the  more  important  position  that  creative  labor  is  the  primary  origin 
of  all  values,  natural  and  artificial,  fis  obscured.  The  equally  im- 
portant position  that  productive  laborers,  in  order  that  they  may  pro- 
duce enough  to  leave  a  margin  over  and  above  the  necessities  of  a 
reasonable  mode  of  life,  must  have  access  to  the  facilities  and  oppor- 
tunities of  production,  to  land,  raw-material,  tools,  implements,  ma- 
chinery and  provision,  and  that  the  access  must  be  as  free  as  the  funda- 
mental equities  can  decree,  is  also  ignored.  The  advice,  to  save  and 
thereby  become  capitalists — so  freely  offered  by  economic  writers,  and 
insisted  upon  as  the  basis  of  business  success — given,  as  it  is,  to 
laborers  whose  daily  subsistence  absorbs  their  entire  income,  and 
who  can  have  no  surplusages,  savors  of  mockery.  If  men  undertake 
to  save  from  their  daily  income  what  their  daily  wants  require,  they 
are  guilty  of  folly ;  if  they  attempt  to  save  what  they  cannot  pre- 
viously get,  they  are  insane.  Yet  this  is  the  position  into  which 
economic  science  drives  and  leaves  the  large  mass  of  unemployed 
laborers. 

Let  us  go  by  rational  induction  and  philosophic  fancy  to  prim- 
itive conditions,  and  consider  this  topic  of  saving  in  connection  with 
natural  provision  of  food,  raiment  and  shelter  ;  the  probable  mode 
of  its  origin,  growth  therefrom,  and  the  present  status.  Saving 
is  associated  with  primitive  and  equitable  prudence  on  the  one  hand 
and  primitive  injustice  on  the  other  ;  the  latter  originating  in  the  most 
disguised,  subtle  and  probably  innocent  manner. 

Adopting  the  premises  already  shown  to  be  true  and  substantial, 
that  abundant  provision  and  the  natural  and  primitive  implements  of 
constructive  industry  were  supplied  in  nature  for  use  of  the  first  pha- 
lanx of  laborers  during  their  first  cycle  of  production,  and  the  further 
premise  that  all  men  were  born  equal  and  with  certain  inalienable 
rights, — life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  the  natural 
means  thereto — it  follows  that  each  person  of  the  first  cycle  of  pro- 
duction was  entitled  to  abundance  of  provision,  seed,  implements  and 
land,  share  and  share,  proportionally,  alike.  These  shares  being  in- 
alienable constituted  the  personal  belonging  of  each  and  every  indi- 
vidual ;  property  held  by  each  person  through  a  tenure  more  per- 
manent and  defensible  than  any  modern  tenure  of  land.  These  ten- 
ures lapsed  and  fell  from  the  hands  of  the  many  into  the  hands  of  the 
few,  through  the  natural  propensity  of  the  latter  to  exercise  excessive 
forethought  regarding  the  future,  to  care  for  existing  things  with  a 

*See  definition  of  Capital. 
tSee  chapter  on  Values, 


•  PRIMITIVE    MODE    OF    ACCUMULATION.  33 

view  to  provide  for  unseen  contingencies  and  possible  wants,  and 
through  the  disposition  of  the  many  to  Hve  in  the  present,  without 
that  prudence  which  has  been  thought  to  be  a  paramount  industrial 
virtue.  Without  discussing  the  relative  merits  of  different  forms  and 
degrees  of  prudence,  take  the  fact  as  it  is,  that  the  two  classes,  the 
imprudent  and  prudent  existed,  and  that  the  former  were  disinclined 
to  save  except  for  present  use,  and  the  latter — a  small  class — were 
determined  thereto  by  a  powerful  impulsion  to  gather  and  hoard 
beyond  the  requirements  of  present  use.  These  two  characters 
placed  side  by  side,  each  with  some  small  quantity  of  surplusage,  over 
and  above  daily  requirements,  and  the  process  which  involved  the 
growth  of  capitalism  and  developed  to  world-wide  dimensions  com- 
menced thus : 

First,  the  savers,  to  the  extent  that  commodity  can  be  prevented 
decay,  saved  their  own  surplusages.  Natural  acquisitiveness  was  thus 
quickened  and  developed  by  the  exercise  of  prudent  action.  Stimula- 
ted by  the  small  momentum  of  greed  thus  engendered,  they  turned 
regretfully  and  covetously  for  the  surplusages,  which,  nature  in  its 
abundant  provision  had  given  to  their  neighbors,  and  which  they,  in  the 
absence  of  a  strong  acquisitiveness  and  presence  of  an  intuitive  trust 
and  faith,  permitted  to  decay.  The  play  of  these  two  dispositions; 
the  one,  careful,  aggressive  and  selfish,  the  other  unselfish  and 
taking  no  thought  of  the  morrow ;  the  one  representing  the  Marthas 
the  other  the  Marys  of  every  age,  was  facilitated  by  the  undefined  con- 
ditions of  primitive  times  ;  olden  times,  when  each  one's  right  was  ad- 
mitted without  drawing  around  each  one's  inheritance  closely  defined 
measurements,  or,  lofty  walls  of  circumvallation.  The  naturally  unsel- 
fiish,  had  no  present  cause  to  interfere  with  the  apparently  harmless 
encroachments  and  of  their  more  acquisitive  neighbors  ;  of  those  who 
had  grown  and  are  yet  growing  greedy.  Hence,  the  next  step  of  the 
accumulators,  the  primitive  prototype  of  the  modern  capitalist,  was 
made  in  saving  for  themselves  the  surplusages  of  their  more  careless 
trusting  and  unsuspicious  fellows.  At  these  points  and  in  these  acts, 
varied  and  modified  indefinitely  commenced  the  growth  of  that  in- 
equality of  wealth,  which  at  sometime  has  marked  the  condition  of 
affairs  in  connection  with  every  past  and  decayed  civilization. 

But  these  acts  of  saving  did  not  end,  nor  was  the  real  mischief 
done  here.  It  mattered  little,  that  the  presently  undesired  surplus- 
ages of  an  inconsiderate  mass  went  to  the  few,  so  long  as  tne  former 
had,  when  they  choose  to  exercise  it,  free  access  to  the  origin  and 
sources  of  subsistence.  The  latter  could  not  at  once  use  them 
and  on  their  hands  they  were  likely  to  go  to  decay.  But  as  the 
wants  of  society  became  diversified,  as  exchange,  purchase  and  sale, 
demand  and  supply    became  operative,    these  surplusages    became 


34  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS.  • 

available,  and   contributed    to    increase,   intensify  and    establish  the 
power  of  the  savers  over  the  economic  destiny  of  their  fellows^. 

Nor  did  the  mischief  end  with  the  absorption  of  surplusages.'  From 
taking  the  fruit  of  a  tree,  it  was  an  easy  step  to  claim  the  tree,  then 
the  soil  it  flourished  in ;  from  taking  the  fish,  it  was  easy  to  claim  the 
spawn,  and  from  the  spawn  to  claim  the  stream.  As  wants  of  the 
few  increased,  through  excess  of  supply  to  them,  derived  from  their 
neighbor's  surplusages,  the  surplus  provisions  of  the  many  having 
been  already  absorbed  by  the  few  through  an  easy  and  imperceptible 
gradation,  step  by  step,  little  by  little,  not  only  provisions  but  the 
sources  of  their  supply,  the  facilities,  raw  material  went  into  the 
hands  of  the  savers.  Thus  was  insensibly  lost  to  the  many,  their 
primitive  holdings  in  the  earth's  entire  natural  wealth. 

But  the  real  mischief  did  and  does  not  end  here.  The  savers,  grown 
to  be  capitalists,  having  secured  by  an  insensible  movement  posses- 
sion of  the  sources  of  wealth,  gradually  lost  sight  of  the  original  equi- 
ties, claimed  and  still  claim  absolute  ownership,  not  only  of  provisions, 
but  of  the  sources  whence  they  are  derived,  and  the  expropriated 
were  driven — are  still  driven — nolens  volens^  into  the  employ  of  the 
former  on  such  terms  as  they  could  and  can  make  with  the  appro- 
priators. 

•This  is  the  status  in  which  Mr.  Thornton  and  other  thoughtful 
men"*^  found  the  army  of  laborers  throughout  the  civilized  world  ;  a 
status  from  which  they  have  assumed  to  assert  that  the  only  right  of 
laborers  is  to  contract  with  the  saving  capitalistic  employer  for  such 
compensation  of  labor — having  been  progressively  Sespoiled  of  all 
natural  rights  to  any  portion  of  the  earth  whatever,  except  themselves 
and  their  own  power  of  labor — as  employers  may  be  inclined  or 
forced  to  accord  them  ;  a  status  the  real  existence  of  which  cannot 
be  denied,  but  a  status  which  is  the  result  of  centuries  of  progressive 
and  persistent  despoilment. 

It  has  been  thus  pointed  out  that  every  man  willing  to  apply  his 
labor  to  production  has  a  natural  birthright  in  the  provisions  neces- 
sary to  sustain  him  in  his  productive  eff'orts  ;  and  it  has  been  shown 
how  that  right  to  food,  raiment  and  shelter  has  been  insidiously  with- 
drawn from  him,  and  how  social  and  political  corruption  among 
the  poor  is  the  logical  result  of  such  despoilment.  It  is  a  logical  infer- 
ence that  the  struggle  for  existence  on  his  part  must  result  in  a  dis- 
advantage which  nothing  can  overthrow  ;  in  an  inequality  of  commod- 
ity and  wealth  which  no  effort,  mental  or  physical,  however  intelli- 
gent and  energetic,  can  overcome  ;  an  inequality  which  is  the  occult 
and  underlying  occasion  of  the  present  contention,  not  between  labor 
and  capital,  but  between  labor  and  hoarded  wealth. 

*See  Thornton  on  Labor  and  Chapter  on  Labor. 


TOOLS    AND    IMPLEMENTS    A   SOCIAL    GROWTH.  35 

THE    RIGHT    TO     USE    OF    TOOLS 

AND     OTHER    FACILITIES 

OF     PRODUCTION. 
CHAPTER     IV..    SECTION     III. 

It  becomes  neccessary  to  present  another  claim  regarding  rights 
which  has  not  been  recognized ;  rarely  considered.  It  relates 
to  the  use  of  tools,  implements  and  machinery  or  the  facilities 
of  production.  Men  have  equal  rights  to  the  use  of  facilities.  Let 
us  fully  explain  and  prove  how  and  why.  Opportunities  present 
the  points  and  surfaces,  whereon  labor,  in  supply  of  want  is  or 
may  be  advantageously  applied. 

Facilities  embrace  the  current  aids  to  production,  imparting  to 
a  given  expenditure  of  personal  power  the  fullest  effect.  Facilities 
increase  the  effectiveness  of  effort.  Tending  to  maintain  equalities 
or  to  increase  inequalities  incident  to  production,  their  use  is,  of  an 
importance  equally  with  the  use  of  opportunities. 

They  consist  of  instruction,  apprenticeship,  appliances,  tools, 
fixtures  and  machinery  used  in  the  production  of  material  wealth ;  of 
common,  academic  or  collegiate  institutions  of  learning;  of  apparatus, 
libraries,  galleries  of  art,  conservatories  of  music;  of  educational  uni- 
versities in  which  the  professions  are  taught  and  applied  in  the  pro- 
duction of  intellectual  »wealth.  In  fact,  facilities  equally  with  land 
and  raw  material  and  the  vast  mass  of  commodity  arising  therefrom, 
are  the  results  of  a  form  of   creative  labor. 

As  forests  of  trees,  shoals  of  fish  and  herds  of  bison  are  results  of 
natural  growth,  facilities  are  the  result  of  social  growth.  They 
belong,  therefore,  to  no  person,  class,  nation,  clime  or  age.  Creative 
labor  and  the  labor  of  universal  humanity  have,  from  the  most  remote 
periods,  joined  hands  and  carried  forward  the  growth  of  facilities 
from  the  most  primitive  forms,  through  developments  as  gradual  as 
the  evolution  of  species,  to  their  present  brilliant  and  effective  perfec- 
tion. Whether  considered  in  the  fields  of  science,  letters,  art  or  phys- 
ical industry,  the  achievements  of  the  present  in  this  regard  are  the 
work  of  all  preceding  civilizations.  Who  can  trace  letters  to  their 
actual  origin,  or  follow  the  unfold ment  of  their  use  from  earliest  to 
latest  time?  When  and  where  did  music,  painting  and  sculpture 
originate,  and  through  what  progressive  evolution  have  they  arrived 
at   their  present    perfection    and    promise?     Where  and  when    did 


36  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

science  find  early  twilight,  and  through  what  consecutive  augmenta- 
tion has  it  approached  a  noonday  splendor  ?  Who  first  noted  the 
power  of  steam,  and  through  what  multitude  of  experiments  and 
ratiocinations  has  it  been  harnessed  in  steel?  How  many  have 
pointed  out  the  forces  of  electricity  and  terrestrial  magnetism  ;  have 
surmised  and  suggested  their  nature,  analyzed  their  adaptabilities, 
and  combined  to  place  them  in  the  line  of  advancement  to  a  higher 
destiny  in  the  arena  of  uses  ? 

Alchemy  and  chemistry  have  risen  from  the  misty  morning  of 
civilization  through  untraceable  gradations. 

The  lever,  commencing  in  the  stalk  of  a  reed,  the  inclined  plane 
founded  upon  the  philosophies  of  a  side  hill,  the  pully,  originating  in 
some  unknown  manipulation  ;  each  have  had  an  advancing  develop- 
ment to  complicated  uses  and  interminable  facilities. 

The  present  status  of  facilities  which  increase  the  productiveness 
of  labor  on  both  the  intellectual  and  physical  plane,  is  undeniably 
the  result  of  slow  and  imperceptible  growth.  At  one  era  or  another, 
at  some  place  or  another,  some  particular  person  or  another  has  been 
the  instrument  to  concentrate  accumulated  disclosures  or  adaptations, 
and  embody  them  in  forms  of  use.  These  concentrations  and  em- 
bodiments have  inseparably  linked  his  name  with  some  particular 
current  of  discovery  or  invention.  As  shallows,  rapids  or  cascades 
are  only  points  of  interest  in  the  ceaseless  current  of  a  river,  as  child- 
hood, youth,  age  and  resurrection  are  but  eras  in  manhood  develop- 
ment, so,  noted  names,  noted  disclosures  and  noted  contrivances  are 
but  epochs  of  culmination  along  unbroken  lines  of  discovery  and  in- 
vention. Men  of  genius  are  men  of  receptivity,  especially  developed 
for  culminating  periods.  They  catch  the  stray  drops  and  concentrate 
the  meandering  rivulets  of  knowledge  distilling  through  the  percep- 
tion and  trickling  through  the  rationality  of  generations  preceding 
them.  Possessing  peculiar  gifts  they  convert  these  into  wonderful 
and  diversified  utilities.  The  dull  multitude  erroneously  regard  men 
of  genius  not  as  instrumentalities,  but  as  heroes  or  gods.  Facilities 
being  therefore  the  result  of  industrial  evolution,  each  person,  being 
inalienably  entitled  to  free  access  to  opportunities,  at  any  point  of  this 
progressive  enfoldment,  has  been,  and  now  is,  entitled  to  the  equal  use 
of  a  fair  proportion  of  the  enginery  of  labor.  This  title  comes  prin- 
cipally as  a  heritage  through  virtue  of  his  manhood ;  but  especially 
through  the  labor  which  he  has  applied,  and  is  willing  to  apply,  to 
that  production  which  has  resulted,  and  is  yet  to  result  in  vast  aggre- 
gations of  tools  and  machinery. 

This  position  may  be  thought  unfounded,  save  in  opinion  and 
iissertion.  It  is  not  so.  It  is  entertained  and  practically  enforced 
by  large  majorities  in  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world.  Through 
contribution,  great   institutions,  not  eleemosynary ;  through  taxation, 


RIGHTS    TO    FACILITIES    RECOGNIZED.  37 

vast  establishments  in  free  supply  of  some  of  these  facilities,  are 
everywhere  sustained. 

Private  enterprise  has  done  much  to  emphasize  the  rectitude  of  this 
claim.  Scarcely  a  city  of  any  note  in  America  and  Europe  but  has 
its  free  libraries,  galleries  of  art,  schools  of  designs  and  conservatories 
of  music,  inaugurated  and  sustained  by  contribution.  Reaching 
down  to  the  lower  grades*  of  life,  and  touching  earliest  childhood,  a 
system  of  kindergarten  schools  has  sprung  up,  furnishing  at  tender 
and  determining  age,  free  facilities  for  moral  and  intellectual  devel- 
opment. 

Through  taxation  every  nation  of  Europe  and  America  is  enforc- 
ing the  right  of  every  one  to  free  access  to  the  facilities  for  accumu- 
lation ^of  intellectual,  moral  and  religious  wealth.  The  free  school 
system,  extant  in  America  and  with  some  of  the  nations  of  Euro^, 
recognizes  and  enforces  the  principle  here  contended.  Expensive 
buildings  are  erected,  valuable  apparatus  constructed,  teachers  in  all 
grades  and  departments  employed,  and  in  some  quarters  free  books 
furnished  to  facilitate  the  acquirement  of  intellectual  commodity  to 
be  in  turn  applied  to  facilitation  and  easement  of  material  accumula- 
tion. For  the  adult  population,  men  and  women,  extensive  universi- 
ties, with  free  engineering,  law,  medical  and  theological  departments, 
are  in  full  operation  to  facilitate  preparation  for  practical  and  active 
life.  Some  of  the  nations  of  Europe  have  been  conspicuous  in  sus- 
taining the  rights  of  the  entire  population,  especially  to  free  religious 
and  theological  facilities ;  they  maintain  at  public  cost,  churches  and 
seminaries  of  state.  These  facilities,  such  as  they  be,  are  thrown 
open  under  regulation  of  law,  fo  the  free  use  of  the  population.  It 
matters  not  that  these  public  institutions  have  been  often  used  by  the 
unscrupulous  and  ambitious  in  furtherance  of  interests  antagonistic 
to  freedom  and  the  general  good.  So,  indeed,  have  the  educational 
and  political  institutions  of  America  been  used.  Schools  and  colleges 
are  to-day  so  used  to  indoctrinate  the  minds  of  those  who  should  be 
future  leaders  of  thought  with  the  delusive  teachings  of  an  incomplete 
and  misleading  science  of  political  economy.  Nevertheless,  the  doc- 
trine that  all  have  equal  rights  to  facilities  developed  by  collective 
growth  is  strongly  emphasized. 

The  theory  of  the  patent  office  is  that  the  discoveries  and  inven- 
tions of  every  age  are  of  right  the  property  of  the  people.  After  a  few 
years  of  exclusive  use  by  the  patentee,  guarded  for  a  time  by  govern- 
ment to  encourage  effort,  inventions  and  discoveries  are  thrown  open 
to  public  use. 

Facilities  for  gaining  and  maintaining  equal  rights  under  existing 
forms  of  self-government  in  form  of  the  ballot,  have  been  assured  to 
every  voter.  It  sustains  the  control  of  the  individual  over  his  politi- 
cal advantages. 


38  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

But  while  the  principal  of  free  right  lo  facilities  has  been  decided- 
ly recognized  as  to  education,  religion,  art  and  government,  it  has 
failed  thus  far  to  include  by  any  appreciable  extent  the  workings  of 
industrial  life.'  Private  enterprise  with  individual  selfishness  attaches 
to  tangible  things  more  tenaciously  than  to  intangible  things.  It 
plays  its  strongest  card  on  the  material  plane  among  the  physical  ac- 
tivities. Tools  and  machinery  of  wood,  stone  and  iron,  are  held  by 
the  strong,  unyielding  arm  of  appropriation*  while  facilities,  product- 
ive of  religious,  intellectual  and  artistic  entities  are  distributed  with 
unselfish  freedom. 

The  finest  elements  of  greed,  grovel  and  grind  nearest  the  line  of 
matter  and  ground  themselves  in  the  materials  of  industrial  activity. 

If  the  appliances  of  production  which  increase  the  power  of  labor, 
if  fixtures,  tools  and  machinery,  were  distributed  to  men  with  the 
same  profusion  and  equality  as  are  the  facilities  of  education,  art  and 
religion,  a  new  era  would  be  opened  to  industrial  life. 

In  the  matter  of  facilities,  time  has  come  to  begin  the  adoption  of 
the  same  rule  on  the  material  as  on  the  intellectuo-affectional 
plane ;  to  furnish  to  all,  equal,  if  not  free  use,  as  well  to  industrial 
facilities  as  to  educational  facilities.  Selfishness  of  appropriation 
can  not  long  stand  in  the  breech  against  the  demand  of  the  expropri- 
ated for  advantages  which  are  rightfully  their  own.  A  pure  and 
equitable  individualism  can  not  be  sustained  without  a  just  assign- 
ment of  each  to  all  natural  opportunities  and  developed  facilities  ; 
and  unless  the  assignment  is  made,  the  untiring  forces  will  irrestibly 
drift  development  into  destructive  concentration,  or  socialism. 

The  importance  and  necessity  of  an  equal  distribution  of  facilities 
is  emphasized  by  the  facts,  that  the  power  of  the  mechanical  forces 
in  America  has  added  since  1870,  the  strength  of  22,000,000  men  ; 
that  throughout  the  world  within  twenty  years  machinery  has  dis- 
placed, up  to  the  present  time,  the  labor  of  180,000,000  men  ;  and 
that  in  both  cases  the  product  of  their  labor,  through  appropriation 
and  ownership  of  the  facilities,  as  well  as  land  and  raw  material,  has 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  an  industrial  oligarchy.  To  these  facilities 
which  give  effectiveness  to  labor,  men  have  rights  as  they  have  rights 
to  the  free  exercise  of  choice  and  reason ;  rights  inalienable  and  un- 
limited, save  by  the  equal  rights  of  others. 


TRUE    MONEY    ALWAYS    IN    FULL    CIRCULATION.  39 

RIGHTS     TO      THE     USE     OF     MONEY. 
CHAPTER   IV.,  SECTION  IV. 

The  necessity  which  arises  at  the  point  of  exchange,  the  necessity 
of  a  measure  of  value,  enabling  both  parties  to  every  act  of  exchange 
to  conduct  the  process  upon  an  equitable  basis  and  adjust  balances 
between  themselves  without  intervention  of  a  private  financier,  orig- 
inates demand  for  free  use  of  money. 

Let  no  man  start  at  this  demand.  Free  use  of  money  does  not 
involve  its  ownership.  The  right  to  property  is  not  infringed  ;  for 
true  money  is  not  property,  nor  is  property  true  money. 

Ideal  or  true  money  has  not  as  yet  come  into  exclusive  or  even 
common  use.  Within  a  couple  of  centuries  the  exigencies  of  an  ex- 
panding civilization  have  forced  it  forward.  Its  advantages  have 
been  thoroughly  tested  ;  but  owing  to  selfish  prejudices  and  antago- 
nistic influences,  so  soon  as  public  exigencies  have  passed,  it  has  been 
driven  from  circulation,  and  barter-money — gold  and  silver — has  re- 
taken its  place. 

The  character  of  a  money  is  determined  greatly  by  the  general 
spirit  which  brings  it  into  use.  When  the  patriotic  impulses  of  a  nation 
arouse  its  citizens  to  a  defense  of  their  institutio'ns,  liberties,  homes 
and  firesides,  as  instanced  at  the  time  of  the  slaveholders'  rebellion, 
paper  money  carrying  on  its  face  the  credit  and  power  of  the  people, 
finds  a  ready  circulation.  But  after  it  has  subserved  the  patriotic 
purposes  which  brought  it  into  use,  and  patriotic  impulses  have  again 
given  place  to  the  sordid  life  of  gain-getting  and  accumulation,  it 
must  needs  give  place  to  gain-getting  gold  and  silver.  The  paper 
money  of  the  country  was  adequate  and  adapted  to  the  higher  im- 
pulses of  patriotism,  but  could  not  be  readily  handled  to  subserve 
private  and  selfish  interests. 

The  true  money,  like  the  true  man,  is  good  on  all  occasions  and 
for  all  purposes,  and  evil  in  none.  It  does  not,  under  conditions  of 
public  danger,  as  does  gold  and  silver,  shirk  all  duty  and  slink  from 
sight.  Under  political  emergency  or  industrial  disaster,  it  remains  in 
the  field  of  use,  sustained  by  the  hope  and  faith  of  the  people  and 
soundness  of  the  public  credit. 

Barter-money — gold  and  silver — has  never  stood  the  test  of  a 
strained  credit.  It  has  been  dragged  by  interested  parties  into  cran- 
nies and  caves  and  hid  away  in  dark  and  secret  places,  just  at  a  time 
when  most  needed  ;  dragged  away  on  the  same  impetus  which  would 
cause  a  dry-goods  merchant,  using  gold  and  silver  yard  sticks — if 
any  could  be  found  foolish  enough  to  use  gold  and  silver  when  ash 


4©  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

and  hickory  are  as  useful  and  infinitely  cheaper — in  case  of  a  raid 
on  his  premises,  would  hide  the  yard-sticks  and  leave  the  woolens, 
silks  and  velvets  on  the  counter.  The  faith  with  which  the  national 
currency  was  received,  when  the  national  credit  was  most  strained, 
manifests  in  a  marked  degree  the  shallow  thought  of  those  interested 
croakers,  who  assert  that  money  is  worthless  unless  it  be  produced 
from  bullion. 

The  confused  ideas,  which  yet  prevail  regarding  the  nature  and 
uses  of  money  and  essence  of  commercial  exchange,  renders  an  un- 
derstanding of  this  demand  difficult.  The  attempt,  impossible  of 
^achievement,  to  measure  all  commodities,  continually  fluctuating  in 
exchange  value  or  price  with  two  or  three  other  commodities — gold, 
silver  and  copper — themselves,  also  perpetually  fluctuating  under  the 
fierceness  or  laxity  of  demand,  has  added,  and  yet  adds  to  the  general 
confusion. 

If  we  recognize  the  truth  that  all  real  commercial  exchange  is  be- 
tween goods  and  goods,  between  the  value  in  one  commodity  and 
that  in  another ;  and  that  the  purpose  of  money,  through  use  of  an 
idealized  social  unit,  its  fractions  and  multiples  is  to  measure  those 
values ;  if  we  consider  that  money  in  the  hands  of  each  man  repre- 
sents values  which  have  gone  out  from  him  during  the  process  of  his 
exchanges  and  records  the  amount  of  values  which  are  due  him 
from  the  world  of  commodity  about  him,  to  be  secured  to  him  by 
further  exchange  ;  if  we  consider  that  money,  whether  paper,  silver  or 
gold,  merely  measures,  records  and  represents  values ;  that  its  object 
is  principally  to  render  unnecessary  the  keeping  of  books  in  rec- 
ord of  daily  exchanges,  all  thought  concerning  money  and  right  to 
its  use  would  be  simplified.  It  may  be  simplified  by  the  further  con- 
sideration that  debts  are  not  canceled  by  money.  In  money,  freed 
from  the  element  of  commodity,  lies  no  value.  It  is  value  which  is 
exchangeable,  and  value  is  embodied  in  commodity  ;  commodity  alone 
can  fully  pay  or  cancel  debt.  If  I,  owing  a  man  for  a  coat,  hand  him 
a  double  eagle  or  twenty  dollar  currency  note,  my  debt  has  not  been 
paid.  It  is  true  I  have  done  my  part  and  put  him  in  the  way  of  pay- 
ment. It  is  only  when  he  has  received  food,  clothing,  shelter  or 
service  to  that  amount  from  other  members  of  the  community,  that 
he  has  received  his  payment.  So  long  as  he  holds  the  paper  or  coin, 
it  stands  to  him  only  as  so  much  credit  for  commodities,  which  he 
may  need  and  procure  at  once  or  after  twenty  or  fifty  years. 

When  thought  is  simplified,  it  will  not  be  many  decades,  before 
the  free  people  of  every  nation  will  arrive  at  the  conclusion,  that  the 
use  of  gold  and  silver,  as  paper  in  the  work  of  keeping  books,  fixing 
credits  and  arranging  for  the  adjustment  of  balances,  as  an  adjunct  to 
commercial  exchange,  is  entirely  too  expensive. 

It  is  especially  to  the  equal  use  of  this  true  money,  freed  from  the 


EQUAL    USE    OF    MONEY    THE    RIGHT    OF    ALL,         .  4I 

dreg  of  commodity,  that  every  man  is  entitled.  Every  scrap  of  pa- 
per, every  piece  of  silver  and  gold  issued  by  Government  as  money, 
draws  directly  or  indirectly  upon  the  labor,  wealth  and  credit  of 
every  citizen ;  and  as  an  individual  he  has  an  interest  in  the  entire 
mass  of  the  circulating  medium.  It  is  his  industry  as  a  laborer,  his 
integrity  as  a  man,  his  patriotism  and  faith  as  a  citizen,  which  con- 
tributes to  and  furnishes  the  wealth,  prerogative  and  power,  upon 
which  government,  in  the  issuance  of  money,  basis  its  action.  Society 
has  determined,  the  constitution  has  authorized,  and  government  has 
assumed  to  coin,  print  and  issue  money  in  the  interests  and  for  the 
benefit  of  every  citizen.  Why  should  not  this  benefit  accrue  to  every 
citizen  equally  with  every  other  citizen,  as  the  right  of  every  citizen 
to  protection  of  the  law  and  the  equal  administration  of  justice  are 
practically  guaranteed? 

When  any  public  function  is  assumed,  the  wants  even  of  the  hum- 
blest and  poorest  citizen  should  be  regarded.  The  governments  of 
all  nations  in  the  administration  of  postal  affairs,  find  a  way  to  place 
every  citizen  in  continued  and  unobstructed  connection  with  the  ser- 
vice rendered,  each  one  on  equal  terms  with  every  other  one.  Sup- 
pose postal  cards  and  stamps  were  allowed  to  be  concentrated  at  cen- 
tral depots  and  there  become,  as  money  has  become,  the  sport  of 
private  speculation  and  management.  Is  not  money  which  govern- 
ment undertakes  to  supply,  of  equal  importance,  in  its  arena  of  use, 
to  the  industrial  process  of  exchange — a  process  in  which  the  poorest 
and  lowliest  are  vitally  interested — as  is  the  administration  of  postal 
facilities,  or  the  various  departments  of  justice?  Why  should  Gov- 
ernment divide  its  duties  and  powers  with  private  individuals  and 
corporations,  in  connection  with  the  creation  and  distribution  of 
money  and  not  in  its  administration  of  postal  aand  other  public  af- 
fairs ?  Can  any  government  give  an  adequate  reason  to  its  citizens 
why  it  should  have  issued  $500,000,000  in  national  currency  to  a  fevy 
persons  combined  into  banking  corporations  at  one  per  cent,  when 
it  refuses  to  loan  its  money  to  other  citizens  at  any  rate  whatever  ? 
Why  should  the  security  of  a  few  citizens  be  taken  for  loans  and  no 
provision  made  to  receive,  by  the  government  the  security,  equally 
good,  of  vast  numbers  of  others  equally  entitled  to  the  use  of  money? 

What  use  that  men  cultivate  the  soil,  apply  their  labor  to  raw  ma- 
terial, supply  themselves  with  needed  provisions,  arm  themselves  with 
machinery,  put  forth  the  most  effective  effort  in  the  production  of 
useful  wealth,  if  at  the  end,  at  the  critical  point  of  exchange,  through 
want  of  the  requisite  machinery,  therefore,  they  are  to  be  despoiled 
the  results  of  previous  care  and  industry  ?  The  delinquency  of  the 
government  whose  duty  it  is  to  afford  ample  facilities  for  exchange 
through  issuance  of  money,  for  the  use,  not  of  favorites,  but  for  all 
alike,  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.   By  a  judicious  handling  of 


42  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

the  national  finances,  uninfluenced  by  private  financiering, 
affording  the  use  of  money  to  all  on  terms  as  favorable  as  those 
accorded  to  a  few,  much  might  be  accomplished  toward  that  distribu- 
tion of  wealth  and  equalization  of  material  conditions  which  the 
continued  life  of  the  nation  renders  imperative. 

Many  considerate  citizens  believe  the  financial  question  of  para- 
mount importance,  that  finances  judiciously  handled  in  the  general 
interest,  the  disorders  which  permeate  national  industrial  life  must 
disappear.  A  vicious  and  ineffective  financial  system  is,  however, 
but  one  of  several  influences,  which,  in  supposed  furtherance  of  per- 
sonal, really  in  destruction  of  all  interests,  conspires  to  upset  the 
present  civilization  arid  turn  the  dial  of  progress  back  for  generations. 

How  can  national  finances  be  best  handled  to  amend  disorders 
and  promote  the  general  interest  ?  Suppose  we  insist  on  the  prop- 
osition that  all  citizens  be  served  alike  in  money,  as  in  other  matters  ; 
that  arrangements  be  so  made  that  the  farmer,  manufacturer,  me- 
chanic and  merchant,  small  and  great,  shall  receive  loans  from  gov- 
ernment on  terms  as  easy  as  those  enjoyed  by  the  national  banks; 
say  at  one  per  cent,  per  annum.  How  many  will  this  movement 
materially  and  directly  benefit  ?  Only  so  many  as  are  able  to  furnish 
the  requisite  security  upon  which  money  can  be  safely  drawn  from 
the  treasury.  No  man  can  be  wild  enough  to  suppose  that  society 
can  furnish  the  individual  a  form  of  money  which  will  enable  the 
latter  to  draw  on  the  commonwealth  without  an  equivalent  given  in 
labor  or  an  equal  value  deposited.  Although  money  is,  in  and  of 
itself,  when  stripped  of  the  element  of  commodity,  valueless,  so 
long  as  it  carries  the  promise  of  the  government  \.o  pay^  it  is  capable 
of  calling  up  the  entire  wealth  of  the  nation.  To  place  such  money 
in  the  hands  of  every  one  desirous  of  borrowing  without  security 
other  than  a  paper  promise  to  repay,  would  be  a  general  premium 
on  reckless  note-signing  and  unproductive  idleness.  If  money 
could  be  issued,  merely  as  a  measure  and  record  of  value,  without 
the  representative  or  commodity  elerpent, — without  the  pay  or  the 
promise  to  pay — it  might  be  issued  to  every  one  to  any  amount ;  but 
it  would  then  have  lost  that  especial  use  for  which  it  is  so  highly 
prized,  and  would  doubtless  be  rejected  as  of  no  more  use  than  com- 
mon account  books  which  every  man  may  carry  in  his  pocket.  It  is 
the  social  element,  the  combined  promise  to  pay — aside  from  com- 
modity value — which  gives  money  its  power.  Every  note  or  coin  is 
a  draft  on  the  general  wealth,  and  government  can  not,  considering 
the  interests  of  the  whole,  part  with  it  to  any  one  without  adequate 
security. 

Therefore,  abundant  and  cheap  money  could  directly  benefit  only 
those  who  already  have  the  means  to  secure  it  from  private  financiers. 


RESULTS    OF    LOW    INTEREST.  43 

The  large  mass  of  needy  and  propertyless  might  look  on  then,  as  now, 
without  receiving  a  morsel  of  direct  aid  or  comfort. 

Nevertheless  it  is  evident  that  all  would  be  advantaged  by  cheap 
money  on  loan  by  the  government,  to  an  extent  it  is  difficult  to  com- 
pute ;  some  directly  and  some  indirectly. 

Money  loaned  out  by  government  to  everyone  capable  of  furnish- 
ing adequate  security  at  one  per  cent,  would  necessarily  produce  the 
following  results  :  First,  the  aggregation  of  wealth  by  interest,  which 
is  the  paramount  feeder  of  accumulation,  would  cease  ;  second,  the 
large  majority  of  the  idle  income  class,  who  derive  their  revenue  from 
interest,  would  be  compelled  to  change  a  life  of  luxurious  laziness 
for  one  of  useful  production  ;  and  third,  the  burden  of  the  laboring, 
producing,  middle-class  population  would  be  lifted  at  both  ends ; 
less  of  some  commodities  would  needs  be  produced  to  satisfy  the 
luxurious  habits  of  non-productive  consumers,  and  more  persons 
would  be  added  to  the  productive  forces.  But  it  is  an  open  question, 
if  interest  having  been  reduced  to  a  minimum  profit,  the  present  in- 
centive to  production,  would  not  be  forced  to  so  low  a  point,  that 
production  would  receive  a  disastrous  check.  Doubtless  with  the  soil, 
raw  material  and  machinery  remaining  untouched  as  to  tenure,  use 
and  ownership,  the  number  of  unemployed  would  be  vastly  increased, 
necessitating  modification  in  departments  of  industrial  life,  othe^than 
finance.  Industrial  life,  being  itself  a  complex  system,  the  disorders 
which  have  grown  with  its  growth  can  be  removed  only  by  complex 
remedies.  Single  instrumentalities  will  accomplish  but  fractional  re- 
sults. 

An  equal  use  of  moneys  would  accomplish  a  vast  work  towards 
removal  of  current  evils ;  an  equal  use  of  land,  if  enforced  with  dis- 
criminate wisdom,  would  become  a  strong  factor  in  the  general  move- 
ment ;  freedom  of  the  created,  growing  and  increasing  raw  material 
for  the  application  of  human  labor  would  exercise  a  paramount  influ- 
ence, and  machinery  and  provisions,  if  alone  withdrawn  from  pro- 
duction, or  equitably  distributed  to  its  aid  would  show  their  indis- 
pensable importance  among  the  productive  factors :  but  he  who 
claims  that  a  radical  modification  of  the  operation  of  any  one  of 
these  factors  will  remove  the  evils  which  have  become  engrafted  on 
modern  industrial  life,  has  not  carried  his  reasoning  sufficiently  deep. 

It  matters  not,  however,  whether  an  important  change  in  the  man- 
agement of  national  finances  would  or  would  not  affect  the  needed 
reforms.  The  right  of  one  citizen  to  the  use  of  m  .ney  on  terms 
equally  as  favorable  as  those  secured  by  others,  cannot  be  disputed. 
It  emanates  from  the  spirit  of  the  declaration  of  rights  which  asserts 
equal  rights  for  all ;  it  is  recognized  by  the  constitution  through  its 
dem  nd  for  the  establishment  of  justice,  and  in  particulars  and  de- 
tails, in  nation  and  state  laws,  is  scrupulously  embodied. 


44  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

The  industrial  rights  of  man,  differentiated  from  his  political,  civil 
and  religous  rights  have  been  presented  thus  far  with  some  minute- 
ness of  detail  and  fullness  of  argument.  It  must  not  be  assumed, 
however,  that  the  presentation  here  made  in  support  of  the  claim  of 
every  man  to  use  the  soil,  raw  material,  provisions,  machinery  and 
money  comprises  the  only  reasons  assignable  for  the  claims  made. 
History,  nature  and  science  afford  other  considerations,  which  if  fol- 
lowed and  applie'd  in  detail,  would  strongly  buttress  and  sustain  them. 
Men  are  parts  of  a  complicated  system  of  organized  and  animated 
life,  and  derive  their  industrial  rights  from  the  necessary  relations 
which  they  sustain  to  the  material  universe  about  them  ;  each  man 
being  entitled  through  them  to  his  just  portion  of  the  material  and 
social  growth,  perfected  by  creative  and  human  power,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  maintaining  those  relations  in  their  fullest  vigor  and  amplest 
freedom. 

But  it  must  not  be  assumed  that  industrial  rights  are  assertable 
without  the  performance  or  willingness  to  perform  corresponding 
duties ;  all  things  are  relative  and  conditional.  Human  effort,  earnest, 
honestly  directed  effort  on  the  part  of  each  person,  is  the  perpetual 
condition  of  just  claim  to  the  agencies  and  factors  of  production  ;  but 
that  condition  being  fulfilled,  each  man  being  ready  and  willing  to 
appl^  his  labor  in  supply  of  his  own  wants — not  the  wants  of 
masters  or  employers,  be  it  noted — his  right  to  use  of  the  soil,  raw 
material,  provisions,  machinery  and  money,  on  such  terms  as  the 
most  favored  have  assumed  or  secured,  is  undoubted  and  in- 
alienable. 

With  these  instruments  of  industrial  power,  a  man  is  fully  equipped 
and  armed  for  the  warfare  of  competitive  production  ;  without  them 
in  the  conflict  for  existence  he  is  but  a  child,  and  must  go  helplessly 
down  or  fall  to  the  rear,  under  the  more  effective  and  independent 
industry  of  those  who  have  them.  '  With  them  he  is  fully  panoplied 
to  maintain  himself  as  an  integer  of  an  equitable  individualism  ; 
without  them  he  becomes  the  victim  of  a  remorseless  capitalism, 
whose  exactions  and  exclusions  are  rapidly  driving  the  world  of  pro 
duction  to  industrial  socialism. 

The  right  of  persons  to  the  soil,  raw  material  and  provisions  is  a 
natural  right;  to  the  facilities  of  production,  tools,  implements 
and  machinery  is  a  right,  both  natural  and  social ;  to  money,  a 
natural,  social  and  civil  right.  The  first  is  based  especially  on  his 
individual  manhood  ;  the  second  on  his  existence  as  an  integer  of  a 
social  growth  ;  the  third  on  his  citizenship  ;  each  and  all  on  his  relations 
with  natural,  social  and  civil  growths,  which  have  been  inaugurated 
and  carried  forward  to  the  present,  unfinished,  but  promising  status  by 
wise    and  just  human  effort  and  creative  power. 


THE  ATTACK  ON  EQUAL  RIGHTS.  45 

EQUALITY     OF     RIGHT— RENEWED 
DISCUSSION. 

CHAPTER  IV.,  SECTION  V. 

Equality  of  right  has  come  up  after  a  century  for  renewed  consid- 
eration. ^ 

What  men  think,  where  the  ballot  is  in  universal  use,  is  of  momen- 
tous interest. 

Shifting  of  doctrine  to  confuse  thought  of  the  masses  on  questions 
relating  to  their  natural  rights  is  of  increasing  importance  to  an  art- 
ful oligarchy.  Resort  to  physical  coercion  is  inadmissible.  To  per- 
vert thought  and  misdirect  action  is  the  open  resort.  It  is  no  new 
artifice.  To  encourage,  cement  and  vest  oligarchic  appropriations  of 
common  heritage  to  an  interested  few  is  an  adequate  end.  Any  argu- 
ment to  sustain  acquirements  is  advanced  with  cool  assurance.  To 
such  use  of  superior  intelligence  economic  writers  in  both  Europe 
and  America  have  not  hesitated  to  descend*. 

So  long  as  the  doctrine  of  equality  asserted  in  the  declaration  of 
American  independence  interposed  no  difficulty  in  the  way  of  appro- 
priators,  so  long  as  under  its  protecting  aegis,  the  enterprising  and 
adventurous  could  pass  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  absorbing 
territory,  bagging  raw  material  and  vesting  points  of  vantage,  so  long 
the  doctrine  was  left  untouched ;  but  when  men  became  disturbed 
and  alarmed  at  the  rapid  disappearance  of  industrial  opportunities 
and  pointed  to  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights,  as  furnishing  ground 
for  action  against  unequal  appropriations,  then  it  was  discovered  by 
teachers  of  political  economy  that  the  doctrine  was  false.  Infer- 
entially  it  was  assumed  that  big  men  with  big  brains,  big  bellies,  big 
enterprise  and  big  greed  were  entitled  to  all  they  could  get  and  all 
the  law  could  hold  for  them  ;  franchises,  raw  material  and  land ;  that 
concentration  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  the  rapid  formation  of  an 
industrial  oligarchy,  was  in  accordance  with  the  natural  law  of  unequal 
birth,  unequal  wants  and  unequal  rights. 

The  force  of  the  new  doctrine,  emanating  from  intelligent  and 
influential  sources,  carrying  an  atom  of  truth,  and  handled  for  its 
full  cash  value,  is  already  felt  to  a  mischievous  extent.  It  is  better 
that  it  be  thoroughly  understood.  The  real  truth  lies  between  the 
extremes.     No  two  persons  are  or  can  be  exactly  equal ;  either  men- 


'Prof.  Sumner,  Yale  College,  and  others. 


4^  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 


tally  or  physically,  either  as  to  quality  or  quantity,  or  as  to  activity, 
endurance  or  power. 

It  is  asserted  that  nature  never  made  any  two  things  alike.  But  while 
absolute  equality  in  person  or  thing  is  impossible,  proportional  equal- 
ity among  men  is  as  fixed  as  the  stars  of  the  zodiac.  That  is,  within 
narrow  limits,  above  which  personal  capacity  cannot  rise,  and  below 
which  it  cannot  fall,  within  this  restricted  range,  the  inequalities  of 
men  at  birth  and  through  subsequent  growth  are  circumscribed. 

The  comparative  equality  of  man  as  to  capacity  and  power,  as  to 
wants,  rights  and  duties,  is  recognized  everywhere  in  a  multitude  of 
facts.  Throughout  the  industrial  world,  compensation  and  wages 
are  paid  upon  the  recognized  basis  of  equal  powers.  Thousands  of 
men,  each  absolutely  unequal  in  ability  to  every  other,  receive  the 
same  sum  of  money  for  the  same  number  of  hours  dedicated  to  labor  ; 
and  these  same  laborers,  settling  for  a  week's  or  month's  subsistence, 
each  pays  the  same  as  every  other,  though  the  consuming  capacity 
of  each  differs  from  that  of  every  other. 

Most  of  the  hotels  and  appliances  for  travel  and  transportation  are 
managed  under  the  same  recognition.  A  little  man  with  his  little 
wife  and  family,  at  a  hotel,  for  a  suite  of  rooms  with  table-de-hote^ 
bathing  appliances,  firing  and  light ;  on  a  steamer,  for  staterooms  and 
meals  ;  on  a  railway  train  for  seats  and  sleeping  berths,  pays  exactly 
the  same  sum  that  a  big  man  with  his  big  wife  and  family  has  pre- 
viously, or  will  subsequently,  pay  under  the  same  conditions,  for  the 
same  accommodations,  for  the  same  number  of  days. 

Even  if  the  laborer,  or  the  big  or  little  man,  proposing  to  pay  ac- 
cording to  capacity  rather  than  to  proportional  equality,  goes  to  the 
restaurant  where  justice  is  meted  out  with  more  particularity,  he  will 
be  confronted  with  the  same  recognition  of  equality.  He  will  find 
a  large  plate  of  beans  for  one  person,  measured  on  the  same  scale  of 
bounty  or  parsimony  as  for  another ;  the  individual  bean  capacity  of 
any  number  of  persons  being  recognized  as  equal  to  the  individual 
bean  capacity  of  any  other  number  of  persons.  And  so,  through  the 
bill  of  fare.  So  in  the  street  cars.  A  man  weighing  two  hundred 
pounds  is  carried  for  the  same  price  as  another  man  weighing  one 
hundred  pounds. 

At  school,  in  church,  at  the  theater,  or  wherever  men  assemble,  a 
proportionally  equal  accommodation  is  provided  for  all.  A  small 
man  occupies  the  same  space  and  receives  the  same  attention  and 
entertainment  as  a  large  man,  and  pays  as  much  for  what  he  does 
not  require,  as  the  large  man  pays  for  what  he  does  require.  In 
clothing,  the  same  recognition  of  equality  maintains.  A  man  with  a 
thirty  inch  chest,  pays  as  much  for  a  suit  of  clothes  of  a  given  style 
and  quality,  as  a  man  with  a  chest  measure  of  forty  inches.  One 
may  buy  his  own  cloth  and  trimmings,  but,  the  tailor,  recognizing  the 


•  DOCTRINE    OF    EQUALITY    SUSTAINED.  47 

doctrine  of  equality  will  demand  as   much  for  making  a  suit  for  a 
small  man  as  for  a  large  man. 

In  the  management  of  schools,  seminaries  and  universities,  the 
capacity  of  one  scholar  for  the  acquirement  of  knowledge  is  assured  to 
be  equal  to  the  capacity  of  every  other  scholar.  Xhe  same  reality  is 
observed  in  the  handling  of  large  armies  and  navies.  Every  able- 
bodied  soldier  on  march  carries  arms  accoutrement  of  equal  weight 
and  power  with  every  other  soldier,  and  in  bivouac  or  camp,  equal 
rations  are  served  and  equal  services  are  required.  Even  those  who 
in  conducting  industrial  production,  insist  on  the  recognition  of  pro- 
portional equality  instead  of  absolute,  equality,  and  pay  by  the  price 
for  work  actually  done,  are  careful  that  a  small  foot  pays  to  them  as 
much  as  a  large  foot  for  a  given  quality  of  boot.  The  injustice  in- 
volved in  practicalizing  absolute  equality  is  one  thing,  when  their  bull 
is  gored,  and  another,  when  the  neighbor's  ox  is  the  victim.  Recog- 
nition of  proportional  or  average  equality  is  as  nearly  universal  as 
possible.  One  cannot  escape  the  practical  results  of  its  operations 
unless  he  attends  in  detail  to  his  own  wants,  and  supplies  them  entire- 
ly by  his  own  labor.  No  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  many  of 
them  drawing  their  first  breath  in  the  atmosphere  and  amidst  the 
trappings  and  pageantry  of  royalty  are  so  deeply  impressed  with  and 
fully  inclined  to  assent  to,  and  assert  the  equal  rights  of  every  man  as 
are  the  American  people.  Hence,  however  strongly  the  desire  may 
be  to  overthrow  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights  in  defense  of  growing 
inequality  as  to  position,  power  and  wealth,  it  will  be  impossible  of 
accomplishment.  Equality  of  persons  within  narrow  limits  of  varia- 
tion is  substantially  and  permanently  established. 


48  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS.. 

FAILURE   OF    EQUAL    RIGHTS— WHY 
AND   HOW. 

CHAPTER  IV.,     SECTION  VI. 

The  failure  of  the  doctrine  of  equal  rights  to  produce  equality  of 
condition  or  possessions  cannot  therefore  be  traced  largely  to  in- 
equality as  to  personal  want,-  capacity  or  power.  Other  causes 
which  have  resulted  in  marked  inequalities,  everywhere  notable — 
massed  wealth  on  the  one  hand,  galling  poverty  on  the  other — exist 
and  must  be  assiduously  and  conscientiously  sought. 

The  rights  of  persons  descend  of  necessity  to  the  material  things 
about  them  ;  rights  to  use,  or  ownership,  or  both  combined.  The 
causes  of  marked  inequalities  referred  to,  are  to  be  sought  in  an  un- 
equal distribution  of  the  objects  of  these  rights,  in  the  failure  of  each 
person  to  secure  use  or  ownership  in  the  opportunities,  franchises  and 
facilities  of  industrial  life ;  failure  engendered  by  an  erroneous  and 
vicious  system  of  appropriation  and  investiture. 

The  real  source  of  the  present  system  is  priority  of  appropriation, 
and  the  real  vice  is  permanent  investiture.  Priority  embodies  an 
equity,  which  has  been  made  to  cover  a  multitude  of  appropriative 
sins.  To  a  first-comer  first  choice  may  well  be  accorded ;  but  per- 
manent investiture,  precludes  the  operation  of  justice  towards  later 
comers.     It  involves  neglect  of  many  through  over-provision  for  one. 

If  a  man  go  into  a  new  and  unoccupied  country  with  its  natural 
values,  the  land  or  raw  material  ready  for  the  application  of  labor, 
and  its  natural  wealth  ready  for  consumption,  to  place  them  in  use, 
is  both  reasonable  and  just.  Taking  into  consideration  his  wants, 
the  relation  a  profusion  of  wealth  around  him  holds  to  those  wants, 
and  the  absence  of  another  claimant,  what  else  could  he  reasonably  do? 
The  natural  wealth  is  applicable  at  once  to  supply  of  pressing  wants, 
and  the  land  and  raw  material,  open  to  the  application  of  labor,  can 
be  made  to  supply  increased  want.  Futhermore,  what  principle 
of  justice  could  be  transgressed  were  he  to  spread  himself  with  his 
family,  flocks  and  herds,  over  an  entire  principality  ;  and  without, 
other  than  prehensive  labor,  appropriate  the  entire  natural  wealth 
brought  into  the  existence  by  creative  power  ? 

But  the  nature  of  the  case  changes  at  once  on  the  appearance  of 
a  human  peer.  He  ceases  then  to  be  monarch  of  all  he  surveys, 
sole  lord  of  the  fowl,  fish  and  brute.  When  alone,  constituting  the 
only  living  representative  of  the  Creator,  and  the  entire  society  then 


RECTITUDE   OF   PRIORITY   AND   INVESTED   RIGHTS.  49 

existing,  his  personal  will  forms  the  unwritten  law  of  the  land.  On 
the  coming  of  his  peer,  another  equal  factor  enters  into  the  constitu- 
tion of  society — the  enactment  of  law  and  enforcement  of  rights. 
He  must  make  room  for  the  next  man.  His  previous  appropriation, 
then  defensible  and  just,  at  once  ceases  to  be  defensible  or  just. 
Priority  of  advent  opens  a  pretext  for  conceding  to  him  first  choice 
of  places  and  things.  But,  in  deference  to  the  equal  rights  of 
another,  he  must  voluntarily  limit  himself  or  be  involuntarily  limited. 

Or  if,  on  first  coming,- instead  of  appropriating  the  entire  country, 
impressed  by  the  probability  that  others  would  come,  and  determin- 
ing for  himself  the  exact  number  who,  in  his  judgment,  could  be 
accommodated,  he  had  selected  his  portion  of  the  common  heritage 
and  confined  himself  thereto,  then,  on  the  advent  of  others  up  to  the 
full  number  for  whom  his  judgment  and  care  had  provided,  he  could 
not  in  justice  be  disturbed  as  to  the  appropriation  made  by  him. 
But  when  the  country  had  been  completely  filled,  according  to  the 
subdivision  made  by  himself  and  subsequently  accepted  and  legalized 
by  society,  on  the  appearance  of  another  man  from  the  invisible 
source  of  population,  sent  and  assigned  to  this  country  by  the  Crea- 
tor and  Arbiter  of  men,  things,  planets  and  systems,  justice  and 
natural  law  necessitate  a  new  adjustment  of  appropriation. 

If  investitures  had  been  made  "  forever,"  if  personal  claims  by 
himself  and  by  society,  through  law,  had  been  made  permanent,  then 
is  precipitated  the  conflict  between  civil  and.  divine  law — civil  law 
sustaining  the  alleged  rights  of  previous  appropriators ;  divine  law 
sustaining  the  rights  of  the  last  and  new-comer.  Into  this  conflict 
enter  the  same  equities  and  forces  as  that  precipitated  upon  the  first 
man  by  the  advent  of  the  second.  At  an  advanced  stage  it  is  the 
same  contention ;  priority  of  appropriation,  permanence  of  investi- 
ture, appearing  on  one  side,  and  necessity,  natural  and  social  rights 
and  divine  fiat  on  the  other.  While  physical  power  is  on  the  side  of 
the  primitive  appropriators,  spiritual  power,  which  gives  even  phys- 
ical power  its  existence  and  energy,  is  with  the  la^t-comer.  Majority 
is  apparently  with  the  former,  but  real,  permanent  majority  is  with 
the  one  man  in  the  right. 

In  actual  life,  conflicts  between  priority  of  appropriation  and  per- 
manent investiture,  have  been  brought  to  many  cruel  but  practical 
crises.  Never  have  the  equities  been  fully  conceded,  nor  have  mat- 
ters been  brought  to  final  trial.  Population  has  increased  and 
pressed  upon  appropriations  and  investitures.  New-comers  have 
been  taken  in  and  despoiled.  Some  have  been  made  dependent,, 
some  slaves;  and  when  the  pressure  has  become  too  great,  wars 
have  originated  between  struggling  interests.  Famines  have  been 
engendered  through  the  agency  of  appropriators,  and  pestilence  has 


50  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

assisted  in  depopulation.  The  Creator,  in  attempting  to  raise  or 
resurrect  humanity,  organize  lasting  society  and  give  it  expansive 
mobilization,  has  been  driven  perpetually  to  attack  priority  of 
appropriation  and  permanence  of  investment.  Dynasty  after  dynasty, 
civilization  after  civilization,  originating  in  the  upper  atmosphere  of 
inspiration,  love  and  duty,  have  floundeied,  foundered,  and  disap- 
peared in  the  mists  and  quagmires  engendered  through  a  vicious 
system  of  appropriation.  If  a  child  cannot  grow  to  manhood  and 
perfection  with  its  back  firmly  glued  to  a  rock,  neither  can  society 
come  to  a  perfect  maturity  plastered  to  permanent  investiture.  Earth- 
life  is  not  a  permanency,  and  permanent  investiture  violates  its  spirit. 
But  the  end  is  not  yet.  At  the  present  moment,  on  the  grandest 
scale  of  contention  yet  organized,  new  spiritual  forces  from  the  invis- 
ible army  of  the  coming  Victor  are  entering  the  industrial  fields  of 
the  world,  panoplied  with  the  enginery  of  success.  The  outcome  is 
not  difficult  to  predict  nor  far  to  find.  Priority  of  appropriation  and 
permanent  investment  by  individuals  are  destined  to  modification 
or  extinction. 

If  it  be  admitted  that  tenure  of  ownership  has  been  required,  it 
was  not  necessary  that  it  be  prolonged  beyond  a  lifetime  into  an 
unknown  eternity.  The  same  agency  that  provided  for  the  first  man, 
the  father,  will  provide  for  the  son.  Nature  has  been  as  kindly — 
more  kindly — to  later  than  to  former  generations.  The  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  next  generation  will  be  better  fed,  clothed  and 
housed  than  ourselves.  Perpetual  tenure  is  not  necessary  for  the 
protection  of  posterity.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  greatest  danger 
which  threatens  their  peace  and  prosperity  and  the  happiness  of  their 
individual  lives.  Nor  can  distribution  of  the  common  heritage  be 
safely  left  to  the  principle  of  heredity.  It  brings  no  just  equalization 
of  natural  interests.  One  man,  with  an  appropriation  of  territory, 
may  have  a  dozen  heirs ;  while  another,  with  a  like  amount  for  trans- 
mission, may  have  but  one.  Distribution  of  the  common  heritage, 
through  testament  of  father  to  child,  places  the  entire  matter  in  the 
domain  of  chance,  and  robs  thousands  of  opportunity. 

Some  form  of  tenure — a  tenure  of  use — easily  adjusted  to  changing 
demands  on  the  sources  of  wealth,  should  be  made  to  prevent  probable 
pressure  of  population,  not  upon  subsistence,  as  it  is  alleged  to  have 
done,  but  upon  permanent  investiture.  The  American  colonies  were 
settled  upon  entire  ignorance  or  disregard  of  the  future.  The  result 
is  that  before  one  hundred  years  are  fully  gone,  and  before  three- 
fourths  of  the  available  land  of  the  continent  is  placed  under  owner- 
ship, the  pressure  of  want  incident  to  increased  appropriations  and 
decreasing  opportunities  is  making  itself  felt  in  no  uncertain  cones. 
From  the  beginning,  sales  of  land  to  be  held  forever  have  been  made 


PROSPECTIVE   RESULTS    OF   VESTED    RIGHTS.  5 1 

by  the  Government  irrespective  of  its  right  to  sell,  and  regardless  of 
the  wants  and  rights  of  coming  millions.  Appropriation  of  land  and 
raw  material  in  Europe,  buttressed  by  civil  law  and  the  entire  power 
of  society,  have  so  pressed  for  generations  upon  increasing  popula- 
tion, that  the  people  of  every  nation  have  been  virtually  driven  to 
America  for  subsistence ;  not  because  of  insufficient  land  and  raw 
material  capable  of  affording  abundance  to  all,  but  because  of  vast 
appropriations  made  and  held  in  the  interest  of  oligarchies. 

In  America  a  condition,  not  unlike  that  which  in  Europe  preceded 
successive  periods  of  exodus,  has  already  come.  At  intervals  increas- 
ing pressure  of  population  on  appropriation  has  urged  masses  from 
the  Eastern  to  the  Western  States.  Now  there  is  no  West.  Appro- 
priation has  moved  steadily  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific ;  and  at 
each  advance,  at  each  successive  sale  of  land  and  disposition  of 
franchises  and  raw  material,  opportunities  have  decreased,  until,  at  a 
very  late  period,  revision  of  the  United  States  land  laws  is  seen  to 
be  imperative.  The  nature  of  the  revision  proposed,  involving  no 
change  in  the  character  of  the  tenure,  is  a  makeshift,  and  tends 
merely  to  delay  catastrophe. 

Nor  have  these  appropriations  been  determined  with  method  or 
consideration  other  than  the  private  fancy,  shrewdness  and  selfish- 
ness of  appropriators.  Accessible  points  of  vantage,  adapted  to  the 
control  of  manufacture,  commerce  and  finance,  exist  in  all  countries. 
Debouchure  of  mountain  passes,  heads  of  lakes  and  inland  seas, 
banks  of  small  and  large  rivers,  and  seacoast  harbors  have,  in  Ame»-- 
ica,  been  seized  upon  and  appropriated  by  the  adventurous ;  points 
from  whence  they  can  give  direction  to  currents  of  business,  and 
where  the  present  and  future  wealth  of  the  nation  can  be  levied  on 
through  exchange.  These  points  of  vantage  give  appropriators  oppor- 
tunities of  accumulation  impossible,  at  this  late  day,  to  be  secured 
by  others  less  favored  by  conditions,  and  less  bolstered  by  the  power 
of  custom  and  wealth.  For  the  mass  of  the  population  destined  to 
crowd  the  valleys  and  plains  of  America  natural  opportunities  are 
gone,  and  the  attendant  advantages  are  forever  assured  to  the  origi- 
nal appropriators,  their  heirs  or  assigns. 

How,  with  population  increasing  by  pressing  against  previous 
appropriation,  can  equality  of  right  be  maintained?  It  is  a  moral 
impossibility.  It  is  mathematically  and  absolutely  true,  that,  with 
each  addition  to  the  population,  and  each  new  appropriation,  oppor 
tunity  h^s,  by  the  involved  amount,  decreased  to  all  subsequent 
comers,  and  by  that  amount  all  subsequent  comers  are  deprived 
assignment  to  their  natural  heritage.  Thus,  the  boasted  equality  of 
right  in  republican  America,  by  a  slow,  insidious  and  unobserved 
process — by  the  glacier  of  increasing  population  grinding  upon  the 
rOcks  of  unyielding  appropriation — is  being  gradually  crushed  out  of 


52  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

form.  None  but  the  flippant  and  inconsiderate  will  undertake  to 
deny  these  affirmations.  With  a  present  population  of  50,000,000, 
the  points  of  vantage,  as  centers  of  manufacture,  commerce  and 
finance,  and  the  better  three-fourths  of  the  land,  franchises  and  raw 
material  appropriated,  when  the  last  of  the  opportunities  are  absorbed, 
population  may  reach,  let  us  suppose,  100,000,000.  The  territory 
of  the  United  States  is  capable  of  supporting  a  population  of  400,- 
000,000.  At  present,  with  a  population  of  50,000,000,  not  more 
than  one-fifth  have  access  to  the  sources  of  wealth ;  the  balance —  ' 
40,000,000 — overborne  by  social  attachments,  ignorant  of  the  neces- 
sity of  access  to  the  soil  and  its  concomitant  advantages,  accustomed, 
under  habits  ingrained  with  their  natures,  to>  centuries  of  oppressive 
and  personal  service,  have  thoughtlessly  yielded  to  the  attractions  of 
the  place  and  hour,  and,  too  late,  find  themselves  a'jiejjated  from  the 
land  and  raw  material.  '        .' 

But  what  is  the  difference?  Suppose  they  had  acted  wisely  and 
fixed  themselves  upon  the  soil,  as  have  the  more  prudent  appropria- 
tors,  and  each  acquired  from  Government  opportunities  in  proportion 
to  the  past  appropriations  of  their  more  astute  fellow-citizens,  on  the 
scale  adopted,  less  than  20,000,000  people  could  be  assigned  directly 
to  the  sources  of  wealth,  in  a  country  capable  of  supporting  400,- 
000,000. 

America  is  sparsely  populated.  Foreigners  are  due  here  from 
every  part  of  the  crowded  portions  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  from  the 
invisible  sources  of  population.  From  what  source  will  the  lands 
and  raw  material  in  apportionment  of  the  natural  rights  of  380,000,- 
000  be  derived?  But  they  should  not  be  discouraged.  They  will 
have  the  right,  each  one  to  himself !  They  may  be  driven  to  give 
personal  service  to  others,  but,  according  to  doctrines  announced 
and  supported  by  thoughtful  men,  in  the  absence  of  anything  more 
substantial,  they  will  have  their  labor  to  sell — if  that  is  not  displaced 
by  the  competition  of  machinery — and  can  sell  what  they  choose  and 
keep  the  balance  ! 

An  equitable  condition  of  affairs,  indeed  !  Three  hundred  and 
eighty  million  persons,  possessing  a  right  to  themselves,  and  a  natural 
and  proportional  interest  in  the  common  soil,  to  keep  or  sell  them- 
selves, body  or  soul,  by  installments,  through  labor,  service,  or  pros- 
titution, and  twenty  million  persons,  possessing  not  only  an  equal 
light  to  themselves,  an  equal  right  to  sell  their  labor,  but  a  legal  and 
absolute  right  to  hold  or  sell  the  entire  land,  franchise,  raw  material 
and  wealth  of  the  nation  ! 

Here  society  has  duties,  and  will  be  compelled,  by  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation,  to  make  distinctions  between  the  right  of  men  to 
use  and  the  right  of  men  to  ownership ;  or  so  modify  the  scope  and 
hardship  of  ownership  as  to  render  it  less  subversive  of  the  equal 


DUTIES    OF    SOCIETY.  53 

rights  of  man.  In  fact,  the  people  of  America,  and  Europe  as  well, 
will  be  driven  at  no  distant  day  to  reconsider  and  revolutionize  the 
entire  principle  of  appropriation,  and  determine  if  tenure  shall  remain 
th  at  of  ownership  or  become  that  of  use. 

If  men  could  realize  that  the  earth  is  an  immense  omnibus,  making 
its  annual  rounds;  that  its  inhabitants  are  but  way  passengers,  getting 
on  and  taking  seats  left  by  others,  without  assignment,  and  riding 
divers  periods  and  distances ;  getting  off  and  yielding  their  places 
to  others,  without  having  acquired  permanent  rights  in  the  equipage ; 
if  they  could  realize  that  the  stars  of  heaven  smile  at  them  when  they 
come  aboard,  and  watch  the  futures  of  their  earthly  destiny,  and  the 
angels  of  heaven  await  and  attend  tljeir  alighting,  a  disposition  would 
soon  engender  in  universal  humanity,  that  would  facilitate  the  happy 
adjustment  of  earth-life  and  fill  it  with  unbounded  felicity. 

As  it  has  been  said  that  from  those  to  whom  much  has  been  given 
much  will  be  required,  it  is  possible  rights  may  be  recovered  to  the 
depoiled,  through  duties  performed  by  the  despoiler's. 


54  WEALTH   AND    POVERTY   OF   NATIONS. 


DUTIES— ORIGIN   AND  NATURE. 
CHAPTER  v.,  SECTION  I. 


The  term  duty^  connected  with  economic  science  or  industrial  life, 
may  be  regarded  as  misplaced.  *It  is  introduced,  however,  as  part 
of  a  whole,  which,  in  the  mixed  and  turbulent  current  of  industrial 
affairs,  and  in  dissertations  concerning  principles  therein  involved, 
has  been  absolutely  neglected.  In  the  arena  of  religion,  morals  and 
distributive  charity,  it  has  been  a  common  theme  for  centuries. 
Though  of  paramount  importance  on  these  high  levels  of  human  life, 
properly  understood,  it  is  none  the  less  important  in  art,  nature,  and 
he  broad  arena  of  industrial  activity.* 

In  a  general  sense,  it  has  a  field  of  operation  in  the  wide  scope  of 
nature,  as  well  as  where  human  life  makes  the  world  resound  with 
effort.  Perhaps  no  expression  embodies  the  law  of  duty  better  than 
"from  him  to  whom  much  has  been  given  much  will  be  required." 
If  my  cup  is  large  and  full,  I  must  give  to  an  extent  correspondingly 
large  and  full.  If  nature  has  loaded  me  with  power,  intellectual  or 
physical,  duty  calls  me,  first  having  nourished  myself,  to  exert  it  pro- 
portionally for  the  benefit  of  others.  But  how  moderately  I  should 
consider  myself  is  evinced  by  what  nature  does  throughout  all  its 
active  circulations. 

Through  common  instrumentalities  the  left  side  of  my  heart  be- 
comes filled  with  blood.  Does  the  heart  follow  the  promptings  of  eco- 
nomic greed,  and  retain  for  itself  all  the  blood  which  comes  to  it? 
By  no  means ;  but  it  provides  first  for  itself,  as  every  man  must  first 
provide  for  himself.  As  in  the  line  of  duty,  it  closes  down  with 
power  on  the  volume  of  nutrition  gathered  within  it,  two  little  arte- 
ries f  open  their  mouths  to  first  receive  a  portion  of  the  red  current 
and  convey  to  every  muscular  fiber  of  the  millions  which  consti- 
tute its  structure  and  give  it  power,  enough  nutriment  to  preserve  the 
heart  in  full  life  and  vigor;  then  the  current,  in  a  broad  volume, 
goes  on  to  other  parts  and  other  organs.     It  keeps  and  accumulates 

*The  entire  doctrine  of  rights  and  duties  here  presented  is  advanced  in  the  interests  of  a  true 
industrial  individualism.  If  men  desire  the  establishment  of  pure  individualism,  they  must 
equitably  individualize  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  the  social  appliances  of  production, 
and  maintain  each  person  in  his  right  to  the  use  thereof. 

t  The  coronary  arteries. 


DUTIES    ALTERNATE    WITH    RIGHTS.  55 

nothing  for  future  contingencies,  knowing  that  nature  always  provides 
previously  the  power  for  every  intended  effort,  and  that  each  diastole 
will  bring  new  blood,  fresh  and  vigorous,  for  each  succeeding 
systole.  There  is  nothing  greedy  about  the  physical  human  heart, 
operating,  as  it  does,  freely  and  independently  of  the  spiritual  heart 
and  greedy  will. 

As  each  animal  heart  is  the  center  of  a  blood  circulation,  so  is 
each  human  being  also  the  center  of  an  economic  circulation.  As 
the  physical  heart  takes  in  and  puts  out,  so  the  spiritual  and  physical 
human  was  constituted  for  similar  processes.  Every  man  is  the  heart 
of  a  living  circulation.  From  intellectual  and  material  surroundings 
incessant  currents,  conveying  spirit  and  matter  in  assimilable  condi- 
tions, are  flowing  to  him,  and  streams,  equally  continuous,  of  broken 
and  disintegrating  matter  and  spirit  should  be  flowing  from  him.  He 
is  an  epitome  of  the  universe,  and  all  things  concentrate  to  and  in 
him ;  and  the  same  entities,  having  deposited  their  benefits  and 
nutriments,  are,  or  should  be,  dispersed  with  equal  freedom  from  him. 
Without  this  alternation  of  income  and  outgo,  without  organs  and 
faculties  adapted  to  its  successful  accomplishment,  organized  bodies, 
vegetable  or  animal,  individual  or  social,  cannot  attain  maturity,  or 
maintain  health  and  energy.  The  material  world  coming  to  me,  two 
pounds  daily,  with  its  wealth  of  bone,  muscle  and  brain,  through 
digestion,  assimilation  and  nutrition,  must  have  rapid  outgo  through 
absorbents,  secretions  and  excretions,  or  I  become  rapidly  a  physical 
monster ;  a  burden  to  myself,  a  heavy  draft  upon,  and  a  loathsome 
incubus  to,  those  about  me.  Somewhat  of  what  I  take  I  must  use 
and  the  balance  give  ;  what  comes  to  me  of  matter  and  spirit  must 
go  away  from  me,  and,  by  the  coming  and  going,  leave  me  a  devel- 
oped soul.  He  who  only  absorbs,  draws  around  and  into  himself 
disease  and  death  ;  who  merely  read  and  learn,  become  stuffed 
mummies  of  literature  and  science.  To  continue  animated  and 
active,  men  must  also  think  and  impart.  Whatever  the  plane  of  life, 
outgo  must  follow  income.  Income  is  accumulative ;  outgo  distrib- 
utive. One  process  must  succeed  the  other  with  safe  dispatch.  In 
the  manifold  realms  of  organized  activity,  distribucion  must  trip  the 
heels  of  accumulation. 

But  what,  says  the  reader,  has  this  to  do  with  industrial  duty?  It 
points  to  the  general  truth  that  Nature,  in  her  manifold  modes  of 
organized  expression,  has  given  us  a  universal  and  an  unyielding  law 
of  life ;  a  law  of  activity,  power  and  perpetuity  ;  a  law  which,  while 
it  involves  ample  care  and  consideration  for  self,  puts  forth  an  inex- 
orable demand  that  the  interests  of  others  must  also  be  abundantly 
subserved  and  promoted.  It  points  the  truth  that  nothing  in  organ- 
ized life  can  continually  take  to  itself  and  remain  undamaged  by 
over-sufficient  supply;  that  the  law  of  the  lower  and  mediate  nature, 


56  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

where  industrial  activities  operate  with  paramount  vigor  and  impor- 
tance, involves  the  principle  that  where  much  comes  in  much  must 
go  out;  that  this  law,  from  the  primordial  cell,  through  a  long  suc- 
cession of  organizations,  becomingj  more  and  more  complex,  expressed 
in  rights  and  duties,  transmuted  from  the  spiritual  to  the  material 
plane  of  life,  inseparably  attaches  to  every  individual,  species  and 
genus ;  and  that  every  man  owes  an  imperative  duty  to  nature  and 
to  society,  which  is  payable,  not  only  at  the  termination  of  his  career, 
but  from  the  first  spark  of  his  existence  through  all  successive  periods. 

In  the  multitudinous  circulations  of  organized  and  organizing  life, 
that  portion  of  the  circle  which  brings  to  the  central  organ  is  the  arc 
of  rights ^  and  that  which  carries  from  the  central  organ  is  the  arc  of 
duties.  In  the  animal  economy  these  arcs  are  of  equal  capacity  and 
function.  On  the  varied  planes  of  personal  and  social  organization, 
rights  are  the  first  half  of  the  circle  of  activities;  duties,  the  subsequent 
and  second  half.  Man's  rights  are  observable  in  what  comes  to  him 
from  the  surrounding  universe;  and  duties,  when  performed,  are 
recognized  in  what  goes  from  him  to  the  surrounding  world.  What 
my  rights  bring  to  me,  through  effort,  from  myself,  from  society,  from 
nature,  my  duties  take  from  me  to  myself,  to  society,  to  nature.  Thus 
the  two  principles  and  forces  of  the  circulation,  through  a  natural  and 
simple  law,  are  given  ample  and  unobstructed  scope  for  action. 

On  the  plane  of  industry,  whether  industry  be  intellectual,  phys- 
ical or  mixed,  this  principle  should  come  into  retroactive  and  retrib- 
utive operation.  Duty  unperformed,  whether  it  be  the  duty  of  per- 
son or  society,  whether  it  be  to  self  or  country,  transforms  rights  into 
calamities.  Observation  of  rights  alone  results  in  obstruction,  stag- 
na^'ion  and  distress;  while  duty  opens  the  channels  and  insures  free- 
dom, development  and  content.  Duty  neglected,  causes  pestilential 
backwater,  impairs  freedom  and  activity,  and  suspends  that  use 
which  derives  value  and  efficiency  from  rights.  Rights  secured  in 
excess,  concentrated,  vested  and  exercised  with  force — duties  bein^ 
ignored — slowly  but  surely  bring  even  rights  to  destruction.  For 
ages  men  have  claimed  and  contended  for  rights ;  duties  have  been 
avoided,  resulting  in  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  failures.  Accu- 
mulation and  permanent  investitures,  getting  and  preserving  rights 
alone,  have  constituted  a  dam  to  the  broad  currents  of  swelling  civil- 
izations. 

Organized  society — to  which  has  been  delegated  the  interest  of 
mankind,  ignorant  and  refractory,  undeveloped  and  unrestrained, 
through  a  succession  of  civilizations — has  never  yet  performed  intel- 
ligent and  conscientious  duty  towards  its  constituent  individual,  nor 
to  itself;  nor  have  individuals  brought  themselves  to  a  performance 
of  duties,  either  on  their  own  behalf  or  in  the  interests  of  others.   The 


INDUSTRIAL  DUTY  YET  TO  BE  DEVELOPED.  57 

day  of  a'true  sense  of  industrial  duty  has  as  yet  hardly  dawned  upon 
the  civilized  world ;  but  the  fresh  breezes  of  love  and  humanity  and 
the  quivering  rays  of  light  and  thought  are  breaking  in  upon  hearts 
and  intellects.     There  is  hope,  prospect,  and  ground  of  prophecy. 


58  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

DUTIES    FURTHER    ANALYZED   AND 
EXPLAINED. 

CHAPTER  v..  SECTION  II. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  the  propositions  here  advanced  will  be  accepted 
or  rejected  according  to  their  bearing  upon  the  private  interests  of 
those  who  may  consider  them.  They  will  be  entirely  rejected  by 
some,  but  partially  and  coldly  accepted  by  others,  and  by  many 
regarded  as  theoretical  and  chimerical  to  a  degree  too  marked  for 
practical  consideration.  But  common  thought — such  thought  as  is 
daily  engaged  in  the  common  struggle  for  daily  subsistence,  such 
mentality  as  is  occupied  in  acquiring,  absorbing  and  assenting  to 
current  doctrines  and  popular  maxims  concerning  industrial  mat- 
ters— is  not  always  to  be  relied  upon.  It  is  too  hasty  and  superficial  to 
reach  at  once,  and  too  effeminate  and  indolent  too  penetrate  later, 
by  severe  study,  those  fundamental  principles  which  underlie  and 
permeate  the  labor,  the  struggle,  the  pain  of  an  overpowered  humanity 
seeking  to  sustain  equality  of  comfort  in  the  midst  of  a  plutocracy 
of  plenty  and  luxury.  Because  certain  important  things  have  been 
done  in  the  world  in  a  certain  way  for  a  certain  defined  period  of 
time,  it  is  flippantly  assumed,  in  a  superficial  way,  that  the  same 
things  must  of  necessity  be  always  done  in  the  same  w  ay.  Too  many 
men  once  royalists  are  always  royalists ;  once  democrats  are  always 
democrats;  once  republicans  are  always  republicans;  and  the  scope 
of  individual  life  is  usually  so  narrowed  by  the  tendency  to  run  in 
ruts,  it  is  a  wonder  men  do  not  sooner  exhaust  the  sources  of  enjoy- 
m  ent  and  the  fields  of  usefulness,  and  call  suicide  to  their  relief.  It  is 
usually  against  such  waves  of  mental  indolence  that  a  new  thought 
spends  its  force;  and  possibly  the  idea  of  " industrial  duties"  will 
meet  the  usual  reception. 

The  opposition  to  an  unusual  proposition  is,  however,  both  useless 
and  unwarranted  by  reason.  The  new  and  changeable  is,  of  late,  at 
least,  the  order  of  the  times.  Through  the  steady  flow  of  events  the 
tendency — and  not  only  the  tendency  but  the  actual  movement — 
has  been  characterized  by  elements  of  change  and  progress.  The 
affairs  of  men — though  at  some  periods  the  movement  has  been  slow, 
even  imperceptible — has  never  remained  in  a  stationary  condition. 
Continuously  some  improvements  have  been  made  and  some  advances 
marked ;  and  it  is  folly — yes,  crime  ! — to  interpose  against  a  thought 
whose  realization  might  hasten  the  complete  emancipation  of  man 
from  industrial  slavery. 

But,  besides  the  common  tendency  of  thought  to  "  run  in  a  rut," 
among  the  crowded   ranks  of  laborers  embittered  by  toil,  and  too 


HINDRANCES    TO    THE   ACCEPTANCE    OF    NEW    THOUGHTS.  59 

often  made  desperate  by  hunger  and  privation,  not  only  ignorance 
of  the  underlying  causes  of  their  own  condition,  but  intellectual 
incapacity  to  comprehend  the  principles  which  underlie  the  causes, 
renders  it  a  thankless,  almost  hopeless,  task  to  enlighten  their  minds 
and  arouse  them  to  temperate  and  effective  action  and  the  patient 
waiting  of  an  enduring  faith  and  resolution.  They  strike  instinctively, 
and  too  often  impotently,  at  the  first  barrier  which  seems  to  obstruct 
their  way  to  supply  of  want,  little  thinking  that  behind  every  barrier 
stands  an  active,  upholding  cause,  and  behind  the  cause  lie  the  self- 
ish purpose  of  those  who,  through  supply  of  employment  or  traffic, 
are  likely  to  appear  in  the  minds  of  wage-laborers  as  the  greatest 
benefactors  of  the  latter,  and  the  necessary  support  of  their  lives. 

But  in  addition  to  the  ignorance  of  laborers,  and  overtopping  it  in 
effectiveness,  rises  the  thorough  and  unblushing  self-interest  of  the 
small  but  intelligent  minority  who  hold  the  industrial  forces  and  ma- 
terials in  their  selfish  hands,  and  who  with  jealous  and  watchful  eye 
stand  ready,  not  only  to  discern  at  a  distance  whatever  may  menace 
their  holdings,  but  ready  to  inaugurate  ruthless  and  cruel  warfare 
against  whatever  idea  or  action  tends  to  loosen  their  tenure  of  super- 
ior advantages.  They  know  intuitively  that  their  own  success  or  ad- 
vancement is  built  up  on  the  wreck,  woe  and  misery  of  others  ;  know 
that  so  soon  as  others  come  to  their  own  through  the  practicalization 
of  advanced  thoughts,  themselves  rnust  abandon  the  surplusage  on 
which  their  sensual  lives  are  fed,  on  which  their  equipages  are  sup- 
ported, their  palaces  are  built  and  their  social  distinction  is  sustained. 
Their  selfish  and  ambitious  impulses  rise  in  imperious  rebellion  to 
the  higher  but  fainter  demands  of  human  justice.  Barriers  so  high 
and  impenetrable — the  tendency  of  thought  to  "  run  in  a  rut,"  stup- 
idity of  the  many  and  greed  of  the  few — standing  in  the  way  to  ac- 
ceptance of  propositions  advanced,  it  becomes  necessary  to  make 
their  truth  so  plain  that  rejection  be  impossible. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  in  presenting  the  thought  concerning 
industrial  duty  in  a  clear  and  intelligible  form,  duties  may  be 
assumed  to  be  attributable  to  three  distinct  and  interested  parties — 
first,  the  Creator ;  second,  society ;  and  third,  the  individual.  Each 
owes  duties  to  itself  and  both  the  others.  The  Creator  owes  duties 
to  himself,  to  society,  and  to  the  individual — duties  which  have  been 
early  and  promptly  discharged.  Society  owes  duties  to  itself,  to  the 
Creator  and  to  thfe  individual.  The  individual  owes  duties  to  the 
Creator  and  to  society ;  society  and  the  individual  have  made  some 
progress,  but  for  ages  have  left  undone  most  that  should  have  been 
done. 

The  theory  of  duty,  as  presented  in  the  previous  section,  and  sus- 
tained by  universal  life — it  becomes  necessary  to  inquire  how,  on  the 
plane  of  industrial  life,  it  can  be  practical  ized;  how  it  can  be  made 


6o  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

operative  in  revolutionizing,  not  only  the  motives  and  maxims,  but 
the  modes  of  the  industrial  world. 

Its  mission  in  ^he  industrial  arena,  after  use  has  been  subserved, 
is  to  remand  back  to  the  common  fund,  for  the  use  of  others,  any 
surplusages  which,  through  ignorance  or  intelligent  purpose,  have 
been  taken  therefrom,  either  by  the  individual  or  by  a  class ;  and  to 
return  to  others  what  their  labor  has  created,  and  which  has  been 
habitually  taken  from  them,  directly  or  indirectly,  through  industrial 
processes. 

That  a  common  fund  exists,  a  fund  whence  the  entire  human  race 
should  draw  the  fullness  and  flush  of  life,  a  fund  created  and  pro- 
duced for  the'  ample  use  of  every  human  being,  according  to  his 
capacity  for  enjoyment  and  his  power  to  do,  no  reasonable  man  will 
undertake  to  deny.  Of  what  this  common  fund  consists  may  be 
easily  determined  by  an  intelligent  answer  to  a  simple  consideration. 
Let  one  but  cast  his  eye  over  the  universe,  and  tell  by  whom  this, 
that  and  the  other  thing  was  created  and  brought  into  conditions  of 
use  and  beauty  adapted  to  satisfy  the  wants  and  gratify  the  desires 
of  men,  he  will  closely  define  and  limit  what  constitutes  the  common 
heritage.  He  may  not  be  able  to  tell  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  one, 
who  made  them,  or  by  what  agencies  they  were  brought  into  e  ist- 
ence;  but  he  can  certainly  determine  in  the  world  about  him  what 
was  produced  by  human  act,  and  what  has  been  produced  by  other 
forces.  If  the  creative  or  productive  act  has  been  performed  by  the 
invisible,  the  intelligent-beneficent  Forces,  by  creative  power,  the 
product — be  it  land,  raw  material,  or  natural  wealth  in  provision  for 
the  current  wants  of  man — is  a  part  of  the  common  fund,  a  portion 
of  the  common  heritage.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  result  has  been 
achieved  by  human  labor — whether  isolated  or  conjoined — it  belongs 
not  to  the  common  fund,  but  to  the  party  or  parties  who  have  per- 
formed the  labor  that  terminated  in  the  result. 

That  every  man,  according  to  his  capacity  of  enjoyment  or  power 
of  use,  of  consumption  and  production,  should  be  entitled  to  free 
use,  during  his  entire  earthly  existence,  of  his  proportion  of  the  com- 
mon fund,  is  inferentially  asserted  by  the  American  declaration  of 
rights,  and  sustained  by  the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind.  It  is 
equally  true  that  whatever  values  a  man  has  added  to  his  portion  of 
the  common  heritage  he  is  justly  entitled  to,  as  the  result  of  his  own 
labor.  They  are  his  property,  of  which  no  one-^not  even  society, 
nor  government,  nor  any  principle  of  priority — can  justly  deprive  him. 

If,  therefore,  any  party  to  the  complex  mundane  existence — whether 
it  be  organized  society  or  the  individual — acting  individually  or  col- 
lectively, has  taken  from  the  common  heritage  more  than  his  just 
proportion  of  the  values  produced  by  creative  power,  and  holds  them, 
by  any  tenure  whatever,  from  the  use  of  those  entitled  to  them,  an 


SOME    REQUIREMENTS    OF    INDUSTRIAL    DUTIES.  6 1 

inexorable  duty  rests  upon  him,  either  alone  or  in  conjunction  with 
others  similarly  circumstanced,  to  restore  to  the  common  fund  all 
but  his  equitable  portion  thereof.  If  any  party  to  the  social  and 
industrial  organization — to  the  complex  mundane  existence — individ- 
ual or  collective,  has  taken  or  is  habitually  taking,  from  any  man,  or 
number  or  class  of  men,  any  portion  of  the  results  of  their  labor,  and 
accumulating  that  portion,  be  it  small  or  large,  to  other  than  the 
laborer,  duty  demands  that  he  discontinue  such  exactions.  If  it  be 
that  he  is  held  to  unjust  exactions  by  a  general  system  of  exactions, 
then  his  duty  lies  in  the  most  vigorous  effort,  through  education  and 
spread  of  special  intelligence  bearing  upon  the  current  injustice,  to 
eliminate  from  the  said  system  its  unjust  and  obnoxious  elements ; 
or,  finding  elimination  impossible  of  accomplishment,  it  then  becomes 
his  duty  to  strive,  peaceably  and  through  appeals  to  reason  and  the 
better  elements  of  human  nature,  to  modify  and  transform  the  said 
System.  All  this  is  to  be  observed  and  performed  to  the  end  that 
every  man — be  he  bright  or  stupid,  be  he  strong  or  weak,  be  he  over- 
flowing with  vivacity  and  energy  or  depressed  by  laggard  languor — 
shall  remain  in  possession,  actual  or  potential,  of  equal  opportunities 
for  the  supply  of  his  own  wants,  through  drafts  upon  the  common 
heritage  and  application  of  his  own  labor  thereto  ;  to  the  end  that 
industrial  justice  may  become  operative  throughout  the  productive 
world. 

Substantially,  it  will  be  noted,  there  are  two  independent  but  al- 
lied divisions  to  this  demonstration,  and  they  rest  on  the  individual- 
ity and  distinctive  effort  of  the  beneficent-intelligent  Forces  on  one 
hand,  and  the  individuality  and  distinctiveness  of  human  existence 
and  human  effort  on  the  other.  It  is  true,  though  not  taught  by 
current  economic  science,  that  men  derive  the  objects  upon  which 
they  subsist  from  two  distinct,  though  allied,  forces;  viz.,  from  na- 
ture and  from  art.  The  commodities  and  the  various  forms  of 
wealth  which  gratify  human  desire,  give  effectiveness  to  human  effort 
and  assist  human  development,  are  derived  primarily  from  the  reser- 
voirs of  nature  where  they  have  been  produced  by  creative  act  and 
creative  labor ;  and,  secondarily,  from  the  depositories  of  art,  where 
they  have  been  finished  and  adapted  to  use  by  human  labor. 

What  men  derive  from  nature  is  a  free  gift  to  them  by  the  benefi- 
cent Force  which  brought  both  into  being  ;  what  men  derive  from 
art  is  the  result  of  their  own  labor  which  was  designed  and  made  ad- 
equate, each  man  for  the  supply  of  his  own  wants.  If  men  are  cut 
off,  through  accidental  or  volitional  causes,  from  these  sources  of  sup- 
ply, partially  or  wholly,  to  the  extent  and  degree  of  their  exclusion, 
their  lives,  comforts  and  developments  are  placed  in  jeopardy. 
Whatever  the  causes,  or  whoever  the  instruments  of  exclusion,  those 


62  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF   NATIONS. 

causes  or  those  instruments,  be  they  several  or  individual,  are  wholly 
responsible  for  the  failure  of  men  to  receive  their  full  and  ample 
dues.  If  any  parties,  individual  or  social,  stand  in  the  way  or  vol- 
untarily obstruct  the  current  of  dues  whose  natural  tendencies  and 
forces  carry  it  into  and  through  each  and  every  human  being,  and 
are  responsible  for  the  deprivating  obstruction,  the  least  they  can  do 
to  relieve  the  distress  which  their  acts,  individual  or  collective,  have 
caused,  is  to  remove  the  obstruction  for  which  their  acts  are  respon- 
sible, and  permit  the  current  of  dues,  in  accordance  with  the  natural 
laws  of  circulation,  to  pass  unobstructedly  to  the  proper  and  equita- 
ble recipients  thereof. 

Does  this  proposition  need  further  demonstration?  Not  to  any 
rational  mind. 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  What  evidence  exists  that  wrongful  obstruc- 
tions to  passage  of  the  world's  wealth,  or  sources  of  wealth,  have  been 
placed  by  individuals  or  by  society  in  the  current  of  an  equitable 
movement  towards  the  millions  who  have  natural  rights  thereon? 
The  answer  is,  the  facts  as  they  exist  to-day  in  every  civilized  nation. 
It  matters  not  by  what  customs,  usages,  laws  or  constitutions,  the 
sources  of  the  world's  wealth,  or  the  wealth  itself,  is  held  both  i  n  old 
and  new  societies  by  a  comparatively  few  of  the  existing  popuUfion. 
Whatever  those  processes,  customs,  laws  and  constitutions  have  been 
or  now  are,  they  are  grimed  and  befouled  with  the  varied  forms  of 
injustice,  which  have  attached  to  the  marches  and  counter-marches 
of  humanity  in  its  movement  to  the  present  status.  The  land  of  En- 
gland is  owned  by  one-thirteenth  of  its  population ;  the  land  of 
France  by  one-tenth  of  its  inhabitants ;  and  the  settled  portions  of 
America  by  not  to  exceed  one-sixth  of  the  people  within  its  borders. 
A  young  city  of  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  pays  land  rent 
to  less  than  six  thousand  land  owners,  and  older  cities  of  America 
afford  graver  instances  of  the  unequal  distribution  of  the  natural 
values  prepared  by  the  creative  hand  for  the  use  of  a  total  humanity. 

The  morning's  paper  reports  that  the  decorations  of  the  four  pros- 
cenium boxes  of  a  well-known  New  York  Opera  House  are  place  d 
thereby  those  whose  wealth  is  estimated  at  $790,500,000;  it  re- 
ports also,  that  a  few  packing  firms-  in  Chicago  are  dictating  not  only 
the  wages,  but  the  right  of  association,  to  25,000  free  American  citi- 
zens. 

Everywhere  facts  like  these  stare  the  investigator  in  the  face,  prov- 
ing conclusively  that  obstruction  to  the  free  and  equitable  play  of 
justice,  obstruction  to  the  current  of  values,  which,  received,  would 


EVIDENCES    OF    INDUSTRIAL    OBSTRUCTION.  63 

tend  to  maintain  some  modicum  of  equality  9,mong  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Christian  world,  is  everywhere  the  rule  and  everywhere  sus- 
tained by  business  processes,  laws  and  constitutions. 


64  WEALTH   AND    POVERTY   OF   NATIONS. 

» 

RELATIONS    OF    CHARITY    TO    DUTIES. 
CHAPTER   v.,  SECTION   III. 

But  the  demonstration  as  to  what  constitutes  the  industrial  duties 
of  those  who  control  the  world's  industries  can  not  end  here.  It 
must  be  carried  through  other  and  particular  lines  of  thought.  And» 
first,  let  us  clear  away  some  of  the  underbrush  of  error  which  has 
grown  insidiously  and  imperceptibly,  but  which  everywhere,  thicket- 
like, intercepts  the  common  view  into  and  upon  industrial  affairs. 

Economic  science  has  taught,  and  yet  teaches,  that  every  commod- 
ity of  value  has  been  produced  alone  by  human  labor.  This  propo- 
sition is  absolutely  untrue.  Creative  labor,  the  work  of  the  intelli- 
gent-beneficent Forces,  has  produced  a  vast  majority  of  the  values 
which  daily  and  yearly  appear  in  the  form  of  commodities  at  the  vari- 
ous points  of  exchange  throughout  the  world.  Human  labor  has 
been  merely  superadded,  in  application  of  superadded  values,  bring- 
ing some  commodities  made  by  nature  and  left  in  the  rough  to  a  fuller 
finish  of  adaptation  to  the  supply  of  want.  Both  these  values  so 
produced  are  indispensable ;  but  neither  is  exclusive  of  the  other. 

Again,  economic  science  would  teach  every  man  that  upon  his 
own  productive  efforts  alone  his  prosperity  must  and  does  depend ; 
and  inferentially  that  what  he  has  accumulated  through  business  pro- 
cesses, under  the  sanction  of  law,  he  has  produced.  This  is  again 
false ;  for  the  man  who  secures  the  immense  percentage  of  the  nat- 
ural values,  secures  an  advantage  over  and  above  the  man  who  does 
not  secure  them,  positively  immeasurable. 

From  these  two  false  propositions,  and  their  corollaries,  has  arisen 
the  common  conception,  inextricably  interwoven  with  the  ideas  and 
theories  of  personal  and  property  rights,  that  production  and  accu- 
mulation are  one  and  the  same  process,  and  it  is  usually  assumed 
that  what  a  man  has  accumulated  he  has  produced.  In  extreme  in- 
stances, where  one  man  has  possessed  himself  of  the  soil  of  an  entire 
county  or  state,  or  the  timber  of  miles  of  forest,  or  the  coal  fields  of 
an  entire  district,  the  truth  that  what  a  man  has  accumulated  he  has 
not  necessarily  produced  becomes  apparent.  Hence,  accumulative 
processes^  aside  from  their  necessary  connection  with  real  produc- 
tion, receives  the  almost  universal  sanction  of  mankind.  The  values 
produced  by  nature  are  taken  without  regard  to  the  right  of  others 
to  them,  and  stored  away  with  the  belongings  which  have  rightly 
been  produced  by  and  accumulated  from  the  results  of  labor  put 
forth  by  the  same  parties. 

If  I,  by  my  care  and  labor,  produce  a  barrel  of  apples,  and  you 


DISTINCTION    BETWEEN    PRODUCTION    AND    ACCUMULATION,        6^ 

through  the  various  movements  of  exchange,  the  exactions  common 
to  business  operations,  come  into  possession  of  the  apples  without 
productive  labor,  I  am  a  producer  and  you  are  an  accumlator.  I 
may  receive  in  other  products,  or  money  which  brings  me  other  pro- 
ducts, values  which  equal  those  with  which  I  pait ;  but,  if  behind  you 
a  line  of  exchanges  exists,  which  nets  you  profit  above  the  labor  act- 
ually expended,  or,  if  you  are  exacting  rent  on  land  or  interest  on 
money,  and  buy  my  apples  from  me,  with  values  so  gained,  you  are 
to  that  extent  at  least,  an  accumulator  and  not  a  producer.*  Briefly 
your  income  to  the  extent  designated  is  the  result  of  drafts  upon  the 
common  fund,  through  the  exactions  of  profit,  rent  and  interest.  It 
matters  not  that  customs,  usages,  laws  and  constitutions  permit  you 
to  take  through  these  means,  that  for  which  you  have  given  no 
equivalent  in  labor  ;  that  which  has  gone  to  you  directly  or  indirectly 
by  unwarranted  drafts  on  the  common  fund,  on  values  produced  by 
other  men's  labor.  The  case  is  clear,  that  a  wide  distinction  exists 
between  your  mode  of  getting  what  you  have,  and  my  mode  of  secur- 
ing the  fruit  I  have  produced.  I  am  a  producer  and  to  the  extent 
of  my  production  an  equitable  accumulator  ;  you  are  a  pure  accumu- 
lator, and  to  the  extent  of  your  accumulation  through  profit,  rent  and 
interest,  unjustly  so. 

Let  us  then  station  ourselves  on  the  platform  that  accumulations 
may  be  just  or  unjust ;  that  th^  accumulations  of  the  productive 
laborer  are  just  and  equitable  to  the  extent  of  the  values  which  his 
labor  has  produced,  and  the  accumulations  of  the  pure  accumulator, 
irrespective  of  labor  applied  by  himself  in  production,  are  unjust  and 
inequitable.  It  does  not  impair  the  truth  of  these  observations  that 
society  as  a  whole,  or  in  small  minority  even,  does  not  see  the  truth 
as  stated.  Individuals  generally  •embody  faults  which  themselves  do 
not  at  once  recognize  ;  and  society,  being  but  a  collective  individual, 
with  intelligence,  affections,  impulses  and  prejudices  like  the  single 
individual,  recognizes  its  own  faults  with  reluctance,  and  repudiates 
imputations  against  its  perfect  constitution  with  indignation. 

If  the  business  world  could  be  brought  to  the  wise  conclusion, 
that  that  alone  which  a  man  actually  produces  by  his  own  labor, 
added  to  his  portion  of  the  common  stock,  fund  or  heritage,  justly 
belongs  to  him,  duty  in  the  premises  would  be  made  clear ;  but  so 
long  as  ideas  of  production  and  accumulation  remain  in  the  public 
mind  entirely  undiscriminated,  so  long  as  men  feel  that  what  they  can 
get  and  what  they  can  compel  society  through  law  to  hold  for  them,  - 
belongs  justly  to  them,  a  distinct  conception  of  industrial  duties  will 
be  difficult,  nearly  impossible,  of  attainment.  And  it  may  be  that  the 
full  conception  will  not  crystallize  until  they  are  compelled  by  the 
swelling  forces  of  civilization,   by  the  gathering  intelligence  of  the 

*See  chapters  on  Land,  on  Capital,  on  Wealth. 


66  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

impoverished  masses,  to  recognize  the  truth  that  large  fortunes  are 
the  result  of  an  insidious  form  of  despoilment ;  until  the  reality  has 
dawned  on  their  minds  that  they  disport  themselves  in  wealth,  com- 
fort and  luxury  over  a  slumbering  volcano  of  prostituted,  vitiated  and 
outraged  humanity.  It  is  undoubted  that  the  accumulative,  rather 
than  the  productive,  is  the  leading  idea  of  those  who  conduct  indus- 
trial operations. 

Men  labor  to  secure  profit  and  aggregation  rather  than  use  and 
distribution.  Production  is  made  contingent  to  accumulation, 
whereas  accumulation  should  be  recognized  as  the  contingent ;  the 
spirit  of  business  is  the  spirit  of  aggressiveness,  exaction  and  despoil- 
ment ;  and  if  one  man  has  not  encroached  on  the  industrial  rights 
of  others,  it  is  because  the  contending  forces  have  defeated  him  and 
given  victory  to  others.  Nor  is  this  fault  solely  an  individual  fault ; 
it  is  a  social  fault ;  one  which  permeates  society  through  and  through, 
and  operates  actively  and  reactively  from  one  to  many  and  from 
many  to  one ;  a  fault  which  can  be  eradicated  only  by  educating  the 
thought  and  arousing  the  action  of  community  to  and  against  its  es- 
sential vice. 

The  common  thought  regarding  the  habit  of  "saving,"  needs  recon- 
sideration. Saving  has  been  put  forth  by  learned  and  illustrious  men 
as  a  panacea  for  the  economic  evils  of  the  times.  Political  science  is  full 
of  the  idea.  It  isthe  stalking  horse  of;capitalism.  It  has  been  crammed 
down  the  mental  throats  of  the  civilized  world  until  they  are  blind 
from  its  choking.  It  has  been  taught  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave;  to~ 
the  slave  and  his  master,  to  the  starveling  and  the  glutton ;  to  the 
shivering,  hungry  and  impoverished,  and  the  warm,  finely  fed  and 
magnificently  housed ;  in  the  family  and  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  work- 
shop and  counting  house,  in  schools  and  universities,  on  the  platform 
and  in  lofty  halls  of  dignified  legislation.  It  has  become  the  Allah 
of  the  industrial  dervish,  and  the  slogan  of  scientific  champions  of 
the  competitive  system. 

Must  we,  therefore,  bow  the  knee  to  this  industrial  Baal ;  this 
false  god ;  this  delusion  and  snare  :  bandied  about  by  the  hosts  of 
capitalism,  to  hide  away  and  cover  the  real  sources  of  industrial 
prosperity  and  the  real  causes  of  widespread  poverty,  misery  and 
degradation  ;  this  buttress  of  a  civilization  which  is  fast  becoming 
detestable  in  the  eyes  of  man  and  God  ? 

No  ;  but  let  us  give  it  a  fair  hearing  and  a  just  judgment.  It 
embraces  a  real  element  of  beneficence  to  mankind  '  on  one 
hand,  but  involves  evils  of  the  most  monstrous  proportions  on  the 
other. 

Saving,  as  a  pure  act  of  substantial  economy,  as  distinguished  from 
waste,  is  a  virtue  to  be  cultivated  and  emulated. by  all  reasonable 
men.     An  unnecessary  expenditure  of  power  and  material  is  useless, 


MERITS    AND    ABUSES    OF    SAVING.  67 

and  therefore  senseless.  Nature  in  her  vast  domains  of  productive 
operation,  accomplishes  its  results  with  the  least  possible  waste  of 
power  and  material,  and  men  may  well  accept  and  adopt  the  lesson  so 
taught.  But  nature  always  demands  and  takes  enough.  There  is 
no  scantiness  or  want  in  its  provisions.  Vines  and  trees,  fish,  birds 
and  animals  are  amply  provided  with  their  requisite  food  and  en- 
vironments. Even  Solomon  in  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  as  are  the 
lilies.  Bounty  everywhere,  abundance  is  closely  allied  with  economy  ; 
but  with  economy  no  lack,  niggardliness  or  beggary.  There  is 
enough  and  to  spare,  but  nothing  is  duplicated,  wasted  or  thrown 
away.  A  vegetable  capillary,  designed  to  carry  an  ounce  of  fluid,  is 
not  allowed  to  load  itself  with  two  or  a  dozen  ounces,  nor  need  it 
lack  a  drop  short  of  the  ounce.  Nature's  operations  follow  the  laws 
•of  use,  while  human  art  is  subsidized  and  overloaded  by  the  hungry 
demand  of  useless  and  vicious  greed  ;  greed,  which  is  but  saving, 
carried  to  a  pernicious  extreme. 

While  the  term  "saving,"  if  operative  within  sensible  limits,  is 
worthy  of  adoption  in  the  economic  vocabulary,  the  abuses  to  which 
it  is  put,  the  evils  which  it  subserves  and  the  industrial  crimes 
which  it  covers,  merit  unflinching  condemnation.  If  men  of  moder- 
ate means,  self-employers,  are  burdened  by  the  demands  of  a  reason- 
able condition  of  life,  they  are  told  that  saving  will  bridge  over  the 
losses,  and  bring  comfort  and  prosperity.  If  the  lowly  and  poverty- 
stricken,  the  world's  wage-workers,  are  driven  to  extremities  of  hun- 
ger and  cold,  and  peltings  of  pitiless  storms,  they  are  reminded  of 
this  panacea  of  all  human  ills  ;  told  that  the  fault  is  all  their  own  ; 
that  if  they  had  saved  as  they  should  have  done,  they  would  have 
been  in  comfortable  and  prosperous  conditions,  and  are  commended 
to  apply  the  remedy  for  the  future.  All  classes  of  men  who  are  suffer- 
ing from  the  results  of  poverty  are  treated  by  the  same  black-bottle 
prescription  ;  treated  by  those,  who,  holding  the  sources  of  wealth  in 
their  hands,  know^  or  should  know,  that  the  means  of  comfort,  pros- 
perity and  manhood  development  can  be  derived  alone  through 
access  to  the  common  heritage.  If  "  saving  "  had  the  saving  effi- 
cacy which  is  ascribed  to  it,  if  wealth  and  prosperity  could  be  se- 
cured through  it,  every  man's  fortune  would  be  in  his  own  hand ;  for 
the  act  of  saving  is  a  passive  or  negative  act,  and  requires  for  its 
enforcement  but  the  slightest  exertion.  Indeed,  it  requires  no  exer- 
tion except  that  of  the  will ;  will  exerted  in  suppressing  the  rising  ap- 
petite for  food,  the  desire  for  warmth,  shelter  and  the  concomitants 
of  civilized  life.  It  involves  self-sacrifice  only — the  slaying  of  self — 
which  partial,  if  not  complete,  elimination  of  life,  it  is  alleged,  is 
an  ennobling  employment,  tending  to  develop  men  to  their  most 
expansive  growths. 


68  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

Let  US  pause  and  consider,  at  this  point,  the  correspondent  ele- 
ment of  self-sacrifice  :  its  vaunted  merits,  and  demerits. 

Eulogies  upon  the  uses  of  self-sacrifice  come  principally  from  the 
teachers  of  morals  and  religion  ;  they  are  worthy  of  consideration. 
The  doctrine  of  self-sacrifice,  as  widely  taught,  corresponds  in  the 
region  of  morals  and  religion  to  the  doctrine  of  saving,  emanating 
from  the  industrial  arena,  and  taught  by  economic  science. 

As  saving  has  its  commendable  phases,  so  also  has  self-sacrifice ; 
but  the  term  has  been  abused.  It  has  been  employed  to  shrink  and 
impair  the  efficiency  of  some  of  the  best  elements  of  human  nature. 
The  individual  will,  prompted  by  exterior  influences  of  a  mischievous 
nature,  by  the  selfish  demands  of  hierarchies,  priesthoods,  aristoc- 
racies, has  been  driven,  under  fear  of  heavy  penalties,  to  whip  its 
component  impulses  and  affections,  as  a  master  whips  his  hounds,  into 
silent  and  compulsory  abnegation.  The  self  that  should  have  been 
expanded  and  quickened,  should  have  gone  out  through  abundant 
nourishment  to  a  rich  development,  to  enlarge  and  sweeten  the  lives 
of  a  common  humanity,  has  been  shriveled  and  atrophied. 

The  true  self  cannot  be  sacrificed  without  stunting  and  destroying 
character  ;  without  aborting  its  complete  and  rounded  development. 
It  would  transform  the  world  into  a  useless  cloister  ;  nunneries  and 
monasteries  would  aptly  image  societies  built  on  the  cold  and  shriveling 
principle  of  self-abnegation.  I  want  no  hamper  put  upon  my  faculties  ; 
I  want  no  check  placed  upon  their  useful  development  to  the  fullest 
capacity,  intensest  power  and  highest  use. 

But  there  is  a  line  where  self  sacrifice — the  term  is  misleading — 
is  advisable.  It  is  where  what  I  employ  is  employed  irrespective  of 
a  use  to  be  subserved  to  myself  or  to  others  ;  in  gratifying  myself  with 
my  own  sensations.  No  useful  action,  but  is  followed  by  a  gratifi- 
cation ;  a  gratification  which  may  well  be  enjoyed.  But  the  end  of 
action  should  be  use,  and  not  gratification.  When  the  purpose  of 
action  or  life  in  its  multifarious  forms  passes  from  the  domain  of  use 
to  the  domain  of  sensual  gratification — it  can  pass  into  no  other 
domain — then  self-sacrifice,  sacrifice  of  results  and  not  of  ends,  of 
enjoyments  disconnected  with  uses,  is  demanded.  If  I  eat,  I  must 
eat  for  the  use  of  it, — eat  to  live  and  not  live  to  eat — and  not  for  its 
pleasure.  When  I  commence  to  live  for  pleasure — I  cannot  avoid  a 
fair  share  of  pleasure  if  I  live  for  use — then  and  there  I  need  to  sup- 
press myself;  but  up  to  the  point  where  the  end  of  use  changes  to  the 
end  of  pleasure,  I  need  no  sacrifice.  If  use  having  been  subserved, 
I  stimulate  or  titillate  for  pleasure  irrespective  of  the  use,  I  com- 
mence to  harm  myself 

The  purely  sensual  elements  of  personal  life  do  not  constitute  the 
life  ;  they  mark  the  point  when  and  where  life  through  the  incipiency 
of  abnormal  action,  of  disease,  begins  to  wane.    That  undercurrent  of 


RELATIONS    OF    SAVING    AND    SELF-SECRIFICE.  69 

heredity  on  which  rests  all  chronic  diseases  incident  to  civilized  life,  is 
the  result  of  pure  sensualism.  On  this  arena,  self-sacrifice,  if  the  term 
is  appropriate,  should  have  a  free  and  favorable  action.  But  even 
here,  it  is  merely  a  preventer  of  evil,  not  a  promoter  of  good. 
When  aptly  introduced,  it  prevents  the  abuse  of  self  in  all  those 
faculties  which  are  capable  of  subserving  use  and  being  prostituted  to 
sensuality. 

With  this  limitation  of  the  domain  of  use  on  one  side,  and  the 
real  domain  of  sensuality  on  the  other,  it  is  clear  that  self-sacrifice, 
or  abstention  has  a  narrow  scope  of  negative  action.  It  is  further 
clear  that  manhood  and  womanhood  development  cannot  be  reached 
by  abstention.  To  promote  development,  spiritual  or  material, 
nutriment,  ample,  rich  and  adapted,  must  be  accessible.  There 
should  be  no  stint  or  deprivation.  It  is  only  through  the  use,  not 
abuse,  of  abundance  and  variety,  that  the  possibilities  are  open  to 
individual  and  national  development. 

Self  control  with  abundance  at  hand,  is  one  matter,  and  self- 
sacrifice  with  parsimony  and  scanty  supply,  another.  The  one  ad- 
vances development  to  its  fullest  and  richest  possibilities,  the  other 
shrivels  it  to  its  meanest  and  most  sterile  proportions.  Self  control  is 
to  self-sacrifice  or  abstinence,  in  morals  and  religion,  what  use  is  to 
saving  and  niggardliness  in  operative,  practical  economics. 

The  broad,  unqualified  injunction  to  save  and  be  wealthy,  is  an  in- 
junction to  keep  what  one  possesses.  It  is  an  insidious  but  far-see- 
ing and  masterly  support  to  vested  rights.  Through  it  the  capitalist 
and  landlord  say  to  the  laborer,  "  Keep  what  you  have ;  be  content 
with  your  possessions  ;  make  the  most  of  yours,  and  we  will  do  the 
same  with  ours  ;  it  is  true,  but  it  matters  not,  that  you  have  but  little 
of  the  common  heritage  ;  but  you  have  your  ability  to  labor ;  save, 
scrimp,  shrivel  and  sacrifice  your  lives  on  the  wages  we  concede  to 
you,  and  you  will  be  wealthy,  wise,  strong  and  happy ;  thus  harmony 
will  prevail  and  serenity  encompass  the  land."  Such  advice  embodies 
the  most  shameless  selfishness  of  the  age ;  shameless,  because  it  ap- 
peals to  false  teaching  and  persistent  deception  to  sustain  cruel,  and 
conscienceless  exactions  upon  those  defrauded  of  their  interests  in  the 
common  heritage,  and  plundered  of  the  increase  effected  by  their 
labor. 

With  this  unjustifiable  doctrine  of  self-sacrifice  as  a  means  of 
human  development,  as  taught  by  moralists  and  theologians,  and  the 
corresponding  doctrine  of  economic  writers,  that  wealth  is  attained 
by  the  equally  negative  act  of  saving,  there  is  a  suspicion  of  col- 
lusion between  the  parties,  to  deceive  the  productive  masses  regarding 
the  real  sources  of  development  and  the  real  sources  of  wealth  and 
power.  As  the  teachers  of  morals  and  religion  open  the  avenues  of 
development,  through  abstinence  and  self-sacrifice,  through  a  letting- 


7P  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

alone  process,  the  teachers  of  economic  science  and  supporters  of 
current  capitalism,  assert  that  wealth  is  to  be  attained  by  saving  and 
hoarding.  While  neither  of  these  propositions  are  true,  except  as 
specified,  they  dove-tail  one  to  the  other  with  extraordinary  harmony, 
and  are  justly  chargeable  with  disseminating  economic  thought 
which  promotes  the  industrial  interests  not  of  humanity  as  a  whole 
but  of  a  small  class.  Suspicion  of  collusion  is  strengthened  by  extra- 
ordinary inconsistency  of  the  reasoning  and  advice  put  forth  by 
moralists  and  theologians.  They  play  into  the  hands  of  capitalism 
and  its  despoiling  tendencies  by  support  of  the  doctrine  of  saving. 
At  the  same  time  they  are  assured  that  through  saving  alone,  wealth  is 
to  be  accumulated,  and  the  possession  of  wealth  conduces  by  no 
means  according  to  their  own  position  to  that  self-sacrifice,  which 
they  allege  is  the  source  and  means  of  true  human  development. 
They  inculcate  as  follows :  They  advise  self-sacrifice  and  abstinence 
as  a  means  of  human  ennoblement,  assert  that  the  less  wealth  men 
have,  the  better,  purer  and  fuller  their  development,  knowing  that 
capitalism  teaches  that,  that  same  self-sacrifice,  saving,  abstinence 
from  use,  is  the  source  and  means'of  large  accumulations  of  wealth. 
Now,  why  should  moralists  and  theologic  doctrinarians,  seeking  to 
secure  through  self-sacrifice  the  fullest  life  and  most  perfect  develop- 
ment, advise  a  course  of  economy,  which  will  result  in  the  accumulation 
of  wealth,  which  wealth  when  secured,  according  to  their  theory,  tends 
to  prevent  and  obstruct  the  fairest  forms  and  richest  phases  of  human 
development  ?  Why,  if  their  reasoning  is  not  somewhere  erroneous 
or  their  motives  impeachable? 

The  substantial  truth,  that  which*  should  be  known  to  the  entire 
world,  is  that  neither  saving  in  its  relation  to  the  accumulations  of 
wealth,  nor  self-sacrifice,  nor  abstinence  in  its  relation  to  the  develop- 
ment of  human  character,  result  as  is  alleged  by  economic  writers 
on  the  one  hand,  and  teachers  of  morals  and  religion  on  the  other. 
Statistics,  sustained  by  common  observation,  show  that  those  classes 
of  men  who  are  driven  to  self-sacrifice,  to  abstinence — and  the  more 
extreme  the  abstinence  the  more  prominently  the  fact  appears — de- 
velop characters  of  the  most  embruted  nature ;  and  as  these  very 
same  classes  arise  from  the  necessities  of  self-sacrifice  and  abstinence, 
and  obtain  the  means  of  education  and  refinement,  their  character 
undergoes  a  corresponding  development  and  elevation. 

Statistics,  sustained  by  common  observation,  show,  also,  that  those 
who  attain  wealth,  attain  it  principally  by  acquiring,  through  peaca- 
ble  or  warlike  means,  through  priority  or  conquest,  access  to  and  es- 
tablished ownership  of  the  sources  of  wealth  ;  that  they  attain  it  not 
by  saving,  but  by  producing  through  their  own  effort  and  through  the 
pinched  and  scantily  paid  labor  of  their  fellows;   that  of  those   who 


EFFICACY    OF    SAVING    ILLUSTRATED    BY    FACTS.  7  I 

become  wealthy,  the  smallest  possible  .proportion  become  so  through 
saving. 

Nothing  can  show  the  absurdity  of  this  economic  proposition 
more  conclusively  than  a  few  facts. 

During  the  past  fifty  years  Commodore  Vanderbilt  and  his  son 
acquired  wealth  to  an  amount  rated  at  $200,000,000;  that  is,  during 
that  period,  these  men  saved  $4,000,000  per  annum.  If  they  gained 
$4,000,000  per  annum  through  saving,  which  is  a  passive,  abstemious 
operation,  how  soon  would  the  country  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  from  Maine  to  Texas,  be  crowded  with  armies  of  savers, 
many  of  whom  would  risk  the  hardships  of  actual  hunger  and  ex- 
posure to  the  verge  of  starvation  or  death ;  whereas  it  is  well  known 
that  the  Vanderbilts  were  living  like  princes  during  this  fifty  years  of 
their  abstentive  accumulation,  and  the  army  of  savers  does  not  exist. 

It  is  a  little  over  one  hundred  years  since  John  Jacob  Astor  com- 
menced trading  in  furs  at  Astoria,  Oregon,  and  in  New  York.  To- 
day the  wealth  of  his  successors,  after  supporting  in  princely  style 
several  families  for  a  large  part  of  a  century,  is  estimated  at  $100,000,- 
000.  Now  every  one  can  know  that  neither  John  Jacob  Astor,  nor  his 
successors,  at  any  time,  went  but  scantily  fed,  meagrely  dressed,  or 
plainly  sheltered ;  that  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  saving,  which  has 
been  thoroughly  realized  by  millions  who  have  accumulated  nothing, 
they  have  never  saved,  and  know  little,  or  nothing,  of  what  it  means 
to  sacrifice  the  real  self;  and  yet  accumulations  have  come  to  them 
one  hundred  million  strong,  or  $1,000,000  per  annum.  If  one 
should  save  $25,000  per  annum,  it  would  req'uire  4,000  years  to 
save  the  fortune  which  the  late  Vanderbilt  left  to  his  heirs.  At 
$10,000  per  year  it  would  require  20,000  years  ;  at  $5,000  per 
annum  it  would  require  40,000  years  to  accumulate  so  large  a  for- 
tune. 

How  many  men  are  in  possession  of  sufficient  income  to  permit  a 
saving  of  $5,000  or  $10,000,  much  less  $25,000  per  annum ;  and 
yet  this  proof  of  saving  is  held  out  soberly  or  sincerely  by  economic 
writers  as  the  open  road  to  ready  wealth  and  prosperity  ! 

A  few  of  another  and  opposing  class  of  facts  will  point  out  and 
demonstrate  more  clearly  the  uselessness  of"  saving  "  as  a  panancea 
for  the  ills  of  progress,  connected  closely  as  it  is  everywhere  with  in- 
creased and  increasing  poverty  among  those  born  too  late,  arrived 
too  late,  or  developed  too  late.  In  the  State  of  Georgia,  recently, 
men  having  families  to  support,  have  been  paid  for  their  labor 
the  munificent  sum  of  80  cents  per  day.  In  a  country  where 
food,  clothing  and  the  common  et  ceteras  of  life  are  above  the  average 
price,  livelihood  upon  these  wages  is  barely  possible.  Twelve  of 
these  men  struck  for  higher  wages  because  it  was  impossible  to  sup- 
port themselves  in  decency  or  comfort  thereby.     Employers  combined 


72  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS, 

and  threatened  if  these  twelve  men  did  not  return  to  work  at  80 
cents  per  day,  the  mills  would  be  closed,  and  6000  others  would  be 
debarred  that  labor — employment  through  which  alone  they  were  able 
to  eke  out  a  miserable  existence.  The  men  exercising  the  limited 
rights  of  American  freedmen,  refused  to  return  at  the  wages  offered. 
The  threat  was  executed,  and  6000  men  and  women  were  turned 
away  from  their  daily  bread.  After  four  months  of  struggle  and  hard- 
ships they  were  driven  to  return  to  work  at  the  offered  wages. 

Will  any  man  show  how  these  employees,  at  80  cents  per  day,  are 
to  be  benefited  by  this  wonderful  economic  panacea  of  saving? 
How  is  comfort  and  competence,  discarding  all  thought  of  wealthy  to 
be  secured  through  saving  the  residue  which  remains,  after  such  a  liveli- 
hood as  will  sustain  the  laborers  in  a  working  condition  ?  To  make 
saving  even  a  possibility,  men  must  have  surplusages.  Whence  are 
the  surplusages  to  be  derived  with  incomes  so  inconsiderable  and 
scanty?  If  men  liv^  at  all  well,  the  commodities  to  be  secured  by 
less  than  $5  per  week  in  support  of  self  and  family,  will  little  more 
than  hold  soul  and  body  together. 

While  persons  so  circumstanced  are  driven  to  economize  in  all 
possible  modes  to  make  "  both  ends  meet,"  to  commend  such  men 
to  save,  with  a  reasonable  view  of  securing  the  comforts  and  bless- 
ings of  modern  civilized  life,  of  reaching  the  status  of  competency,  is 
little  less  than  affrontive  mockery. 

But  how  much  worse  conditioned  are  these  Georgia  operatives 
than  the  vast  mass  of  wage,  salary  and  free  workers  of  the  world  ?  In 
America,  by  the  census  of  1880,  the  average  income  of  those  who  were 
dependent  for  advancement  and  affluence  on  wages,  salaries  and  fees 
was  about  $340  per  annum.  This  estimate  includes  those  occupied 
by  the  learned  professions  and  those  engaged  in  personal  service  ;  of 
whom,  thousands  of  the  former  are  in  receipt  of  salaries  and  incomes 
varying  from  $1000  to  $25,000  per  annum.  If  these  were  eliminated 
from  the  whole  number  dependent  on  fixed  incomes,  the  average 
income  of  the  laborors  of  America  would  not  exceed  $300  per 
annum.  While  under  exceptional  circumstances  a  few  single  men 
may  be  and  have  been  capable  of  laying  aside  in  a  few  years  a  small 
stock  of  money  with  which  further  advances  towards  self  employment 
may  be  made,  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  through  inadvertance, 
incidents  and  accidents,  sickness  and  misfortunes,  and  unexpected 
responsibilities,  the  entire  sum  of  $300  is  not  only  fully  consumed, 
but  large  numbers  are  unable  to  meet  the  most  common  obligations. 

But  how  does  saving  effect  those  already  rich,  and  through  them 
the  entire  community  ?  Having  surplusages,  which  under  interest 
are  continually  increasing  in  volume,  they  are  all  able  to  save  and 
to  increase  their  savings  from  year  to  year.  With  them,  saving 
makes  accumulations  :  thousand    upon  thousand,  million  upon  mil- 


THE    RICH    MUST    EXPEND,    NOT    SAVE  73 

lion  ;  obstructing  more  and  more  the  equable  circulation  of  those 
values  which  in  uniform  and  unhindered  flow,  give  life  and  vigor, 
not  only  to  organized  society  as  a  whole,  but  satisfactory  existence  to 
each  individual  unit  thereof. 

Saving  with  those  who  have  already  accumulated,  but  aggravates 
the  difficulties  which  have  begun  to  settle  down  upon  this  present 
civilization.  It  increases  those  already  cumulative  obstructions, 
which  of  all  things,  by  a  wholesale  dispersion,  need  most  to  be  de- 
creased. The  rich  need  the  rather  to  expend  than  save  ;  not  to 
expend  in  order  that  more  and  greater  wealth  may  come  back  to 
them ;  not  to  invest  for  renewed  and  increased  profits,  but  that  it 
may  not  come  back  to  them  in  any  quantity  whatever  ;  that  it  may 
go  out  through  an  uninterested  process  of  industrial  duty  to  those 
from  whom,  through  the  assertion  of  industrial  right  in  excess,  it  has 
previously  been  taken. 

Let  the  rich  sell  what  they  have ;  see  that  the  poor  receive  what 
they  have  lost  through  despoilments,  touching  natural  values  in  land 
and  raw  material  and  through  the  monstrous  exactions  of  modern 
industrial  life.  '  Let  the  poor  use  without  waste ;  economize.  The 
industrial  machinery  of  the  nation  altered  and  so  operated,  will 
gradually  restore  confidence  in  the  beneficence  of  civil  and  political 
freedom,  and  every  man  may  congratulate  himself  and  thank  God 
that  he  lives  in  a  day  of  true  progress  and  enjoys  the  beneficence  of 
industrial  institutions,  as  well  as  religious,  political  and  civil,  both 
humane  and  wise. 

Saving  entered  upon  as  a  virtue  often  becomes  a  vice,  and  follow- 
ing the  channels  of  subjective  development,  terminates  in  senseless 
and  miserly  niggardliness  with  the  person,  and  wealth  "piled  Alps 
on  Alps  "  in  the  graneries  arid  counting  houses  of  those  who  never 
use,  but  employ  it  only  for  further  increase  or  gratification  of  the 
most  base  sensuality.  Saving  is  but  one-half  of  the  circle  of  life.  It 
embodies  alone  the  get,  the  hold,  the  accumulative  element  of  in- 
dustrial life, — a  principle  which,  operated  alone,  has  worked  the  des- 
truction of  previous  civilizations,  and  constitutes  the  most  dangerous 
element  incorporated  within  that  which  is  now  undergoing  a  crucial 
ordeal. 

Another  of  these  underbrush  saplings  calculated  to  interrupt  a  clear 
view  of  industrial  duties  as  connected  with  economic  life,  is  the 
common  utterance,   "Laissez  faire." 

Nothing  is  more  deceptive  or  delusive  than  the  idea  embodied  in 
this  phrase.  It  arises  in  part  from  the  apparent  impotence  of  the 
individual  in  effecting  social  changes  ;  in  part  from  the  natural  indo- 
lence which  inheres  in  all  persons,  and  in  part  from  selfish  motives 
of  those  interested  in  the  present  status.     It  is  one  of  the  conserva- 


74  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

tive  slogans  of  those  who  hold  the  earth  and   its  wealth'  in   their 
power,  and  who  are  determined  to  retain  it. 

It  emanates  from  the  same  subjective  source  as  did  that  famous 
reply  of  the  seceding  States  to  the  demands  of  the  Union,  "  We 
want  to  be  let  alone."  They  held  a  few  million  blacks  in  hopeless 
slavery,  and  wanted  to.be  let  alone  in  their  favorite  phase  of  oppres- 
sion. To-day,  in  every  civilized  nation  a  small  minority  hold  a  large 
majority  in  a  form  of  slavery,  so  commingled  with  the  simplest  forms 
of  freedom  and  so  buttressed  by  the  deceitful  phases  of  equity  that  it 
has  escaped  notice  of  current  intelligence ;  and  this  minority  in  re- 
sponse to  the  restless  activity  and  world-wide  demands  for  reform, 
cry  out,  "Laissez  faire,  laissez  faire." 

While  it  becomes  every  person  to  consider  with  modesty  his  power 
either  upon  his  own  country,  or  upon  the  erratic  and  perverted  modes 
of  national  and  social  development,  he  is  not  warranted  in  with-hold- 
ing  his  power — whatever  it  may  be — from  increasing  the  momentum 
of  progress  in  its  many-phased  movements.  No  man  exists  whose 
influence  for  or  against  the  betterment  of  human  conditions  cannot 
be  weighed.  Even  though  possessed  of  a  lofty  faith,  which  rests 
hopefully  upon  a  superior  wisdom  and  power  to  direct  the  move- 
ments of  nations  and  the  evolutions  of  humanity,  no  man  is  to  be 
excused  from  participating,  so  far  as  he  is  capable,  in  the  magnificent 
movements  of  his  own  times,  and  among  his  own  countrymen.  A 
good  citizen  can  do  no  less  than  thoroughly  inform  himself  of  the 
designs  of  the  Master  Workman  and  the  avenues  through  which 
humanity  is  moving  to  final  perfection  and  triumph,  and  so  adapt 
himself  to  the  marching  and  countermarching,  that  his  influence 
may  parallel  and  support,  not  resist,  the  general  advance.  It  is  to 
the  individual  interest  to  move  with,  ratYier  than  against  the  currents 
of  Omnipotent  blessing  and  power.  No  rational  man  can  afford  to 
resist  the  stately  steppings  of  human  evolution,  or  to  oppose  the  far- 
reaching  and  imposing  changes  in  progress,  for  the  betterment  of 
human  conditions.  No  man  who  cares  the  least  particle  for  the 
interest  of  his  fellows  can  afford  to  settle  down  under  the  obstructive 
banners  of  "laissez  faire." 

A  better  conception  of  the  scope  and  value  of  the  terms  produc-' 
tion,  accumulation,  saving,  self-sacrifice,  and  laissez  faire^  and  their 
relation  to  thought,  old  and  new,  opens  to  clearer  conception  and 
easier  acceptance  the  doctrine  of  industrial  duties  and  its  just  rela- 
tion to  industrial  rights.     Let  us  now  proceed. 

The  common  conception  of  duty  scarcely  touches  the  practical 
details  of  industrial  Hfe.  Business  is  said  to  be  business  ;  and  if  one 
fulfills  his  contracts  and  discharges  debts  which  accrue  in  the  changes 
and  interchanges  of  industry,  he  is  likely  to  infer  that  nothing  further 
is  due  from  him  to  the    balance  of  mankind  ;    nor,   is  there,  if  we 


DUTY    TO    GIVE    RECOGNIZED    INTUITIVELY.  75 

accept  the  present  status  with  its  systemic  movements,  as  a  social 
and  national  finality. 

And  yet,  when  even  the  exact  and  unalterable  man  of  business, 
turns  his  attention  to  the  personal  and  social  distress  incident  to  the 
past  existence  of  civilized  communities,  a  still  small  voice  rises  from 
the  depth  of  his  nature,  and  enters  an  imperative  demand  for  action  ; 
such  action  as  will  convey  values,  which  he  has  accumulated  through 
industrial  principles,  from  himself,  to  feed,  clothe,  and  give  shelter  to 
those  who  need  and  ha^^e  not.  This  demand  comes  to  him  intuitively, 
with  a  power  which  he  is  unable  to  resist.  He  recognizes  in  it  a  neces- 
sity for  action  ;  a  duty  differing  from  his  ordinary  business  obliga- 
tions in  the  fact  that  the  former,  unlike  the  latter,  is,  to  all  appear- 
ances, at  least,  devoid  of  the  nature  of  a  contract,  specifying  as  the 
latter  specifies  names  and  amounts  ;  but  nevertheless  a  duty  which 
must  be  regarded  with  such  output  of  his  wealth  as  his  personal  gen- 
erosity and  judgment  may  dictate.  This  duty  has  to  his  mind  a 
certain  indefinite  connection  with  the  production  and  distribution  of 
wealth — a  connection  which  he  has  not  traced,'  and  does  not  care  to 
trace  with  particularity  of  detail.  He  does  not  know  and  does  not 
care  to  know  that  the  cause  of  the  need  and  distress  which  he  thinks 
himself  obliged  to  assist  in  relieving,  can  be  traced  by  covered  path- 
ways, through  industrial  processes  to  his  own  door  and  to  the  door 
of  others  actively  pushing  the  movements  of  the  industrial  world. 

This  duty  which  is  performed  with  more  alacrity  as  it  is  stimulated 
by  sentiment  and  sympathy,  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  industrial  duty 
of  charity.  It  is  none  the  less  a  duty  because  it  is  not  enforced  by 
implied  or  expressed  contract  between  the  recipient  and  the  giver. 
But  there  is  an  implied  contract ;  a  contract  which  has  been  expressed 
in  all  ages  and  all  climes  with  as  much  clearness  as  circumstances 
have  permitted ;  a  contract  between  the  creative  forces  and  the 
created  entities,  that  the  latter  shall  have,  through  reasonable  labor 
ample  supply  of  want.  The  operation  of  that  contract  between 
creator  and  creature  has  been  obstructed  through  industrial  processes 
whose  end  is  superabundant,  royal  supply  to  the  few,  and  whose 
result  is  scarcity,  need  and  impoverishment  of  the  masses. 

Whether  the  givers  of  alms  are  intellectually  cognizant  of  a  respon- 
sibility for  industrial  obstructions,  is  questionable  ;  but  that  they  are 
responsible,  not  individually  alone  but  collectively,  is  intellectually 
demonstrable ;  not  with  the  precision  which  attends  mathematical 
demonstrations  norwith  the  particularity  with  which  the  responsibility 
of  a  particular  crime  is  fixed  by  process  of  law  on  a  particular  crim- 
inal ;  but  with  a  clearness  which  cannot  be  reasonably  resisted. 

The  duty  of  charity,  connected  like  production  with  supply  of 
want,  which  is  to  be  recognized  as  a  duty  on  the  partW  the  wealthy, 
rests  then  on  the  proposition  that  the  leaders  of  industry,  through  an 


7  6  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

industrial  system  which  has  been  fixed  by  them  and  by  the  concur- 
rence of  Others  upon  org;anized  society,  are  responsible  for  the  des- 
titution which  renders  the  work  of  charity  necessary.  In  other  words, 
they  should  give  because  they  have  taken.  They  have  interposed,  it 
may  be  ignorantly,  to  prevent  the  execution  of  an  implied  contract 
existing  in  the  very  nature  of  things  between  creature  and  creator :  a 
contract  which  has  been  fully  executed  to  all  other  creatures,  but 
to  man  has  been  cut  off  by  "man's  inhumanity  to  man." 

What  animal  or  class  of  animals  has  ever  been  compelled  systemat- 
ically to  pay  tribute  to  other  animals  of  the  same  species  for  the  right 
to  move  about  or  domesticate  on  the  earth  ?  It  has  been  left  to  the 
"  intelligent  selfishness  "  of  man  to  organize  a  species  of  obstruction 
against  the  life  and  happiness  of  other  men,  the  cruelty  of  which  out- 
animalizes  the  cruelties  of  the  cruelest  and  meanest  of  animals. 

What  are  the  terms  of  this  implied  contract  between  creative  forces 
and  created  entities,  the  execution  of  which  has  been  thwarted  by  or- 
ganized society  under  the  dominion  of  privileged  classes?  They  are 
that  every  individual  shall  have  free  foot-hold  on  the  globe;  shall  have 
a  proportionately  equal  share  of  the  natural  wealth,  and  raw  material, 
susceptible  of  being  transformed  by  labor  into  artificial  wealth  ;  shall 
have  access  to  and  use  of  those  natural  provisions  made  for  all  men 
to  support  their  lives  in  comfort  and  power,  and  shall  have  the  abso- 
lute and  only  right,  each  man  to  the  results  of  his  own  labor. 

These  are  the  provisions  of  the  contract,  entered  into  with  the 
human  race  by  the  creative  forces,  and  which  have  been,  and  are 
now  being  interrupted,  through  their  natural  avenues  of  execution ; 
their  violation,  resulting  in  the  mountains  of  wealth  in  a  few  places, 
squalid  poverty,  touching  the  down-trodden  of  all  nations,  and  the 
middle  productive  masses,  heavily  laden  with  the  buFden  of  support. 
Let  us  consider  some  specifications,  and  enter  with  more  detail 
into  the  industrial  processes  through  which  these  results  flow. 

No  man  demands  and  receives  rent  who  does  not  hold  more  land 
than  he  uses ;  no  man  demands  and  receives  interest  who  does  not 
possess  more  wealth  than  he  uses  ;  no  man  demands  and  receives 
profit  who  does  not  receive  values  to  a  larger  amount  than  he  gives. 

And  yet  rent,  which  is  unjust  compensation  for  the  use  of  land, 
interest  which  is  unjust  compensation  for  the  use  of  wealth — or  what 
is  commutable,  money — and  profit,  which  is  unjust  compensation  on 
acts  of  exchange,  are  the  approved  instrumentalities,  whereby  wealth 
is  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  industrial  leaders,  and  slips  from  the 
hands  of  the  followers,  leaving  the  latter  despoiled  and  lean.  Few 
care  or  dare  to  question  the  justice  of  these  current  processes  of  de- 
spoilment, or  trace  the  modes  through  which  they  operate  in  bringing 
wealth  to  accumulators,  and  depleting  the  exchecquers  of  producers. 
But  it  becomes  our  duty   to  lay  open   these   common   processes  of 


HOW   THE    EMPLOYEE    CLASS    IS    DESPOILED.  77 

industrial  life,  and  expose  them  in  their  true  nature  to  all  concerned. 

Let  us  turn  the  light  upon  the  facts  of  a  single  case,  and  show 
how,  irrespective  of  his  own  qualities  of  thrift,  a  given  person  may 
become  the  object  of  charitable  work.  We  will  exclude  from  con- 
sideration those  natural  calamities  which  may  befall  any  man,  through 
sickness,  accident  and  circumstances  unforseen ;  those  spiritual  and 
physical  elements  of  personal  weakness,  which  through  finite  limita- 
tions, are  deemed  unavoidable.  It  matters  little  if  the  person  be 
selected  from  the  ranks  of  skilled  or  unskilled  labor — from  the  trades 
or  the  learned  professions,  for  all  are  under  the  too  often  unrecog- 
nized pressure  and  crowding  of  the  competitive  struggle  for  the 
prizes  of  life — prizes  attainable  principally,  not  through  productive 
labor,  but  through  rent,  interest  and  profit. 

Let  our  illustration  be  personified  in  a  carpenter  ;  and  suppose 
him  to  be  a  man  of  average  faculty,  of  probity,  temperance  and  in- 
dustry. He  has  a  small  family  looking  to  him  for  support,  education 
and  culture.  Let  him  enter  an  established  or  new  and  growing  con- 
dition of  organized  society. 

He  arrives  in  a*  city  where  demand  for  his  labor  is  continuous  and 
wages  average,  but  where  the  land  has  been  owned  for  an  indefinite 
period  ;  where  its  accessible  portions  are  already  occupied  by  build- 
ings or  held  at  high  prices  on  speculation,  and  where  manufacture  is 
in  a  condition  Of  growing  thrift,  or  full  and  successful  operation  ; 
and  commerce  and  finance  are  playing  through  established  channels. 

The  imperative  wants  of  this  man  center  about  propositions  for 
shelter,  raiment  and  food.  Questions  concerning  education,  social 
and  religious  wants,  fall  in  subsequently. 

For  shelter  he  must  occupy  a  house  ;  it  must  stand  upon  land 
which  some  other  man  owns,  but  for  himself  does  not  use  ;  and  for 
which  either  the  present  owner  or  some  other  predecessor  paid  noth- 
ing— nothing,  from  the  simple,  if  no  other,  fact,  that  being  prior,  no 
one  existed  to  whom  payment  could  be  made. 

The  antecedent  or  first  owner  may  have  been  organized  society,  or 
a  person  ;  in  either  case,  assuming  to  own  what  neither  had  ex- 
pended labor  in  producing.  The  land,  as  an  indispensable  value 
was  produced  indeed  before  either  society  or  the  person  had  an  ex- 
istence. 

The  first  owner  became  an  owner  only  on  his  own  motion  ;  came 
to  it,  claimed  it,  and  put  it  under  dominion  through  law  enacted  alone 
by  himself,  and  established  his  right  by  might. 

Let  us  bear  in  mind,  this  is  land  which  the  owner  is  not  using. 
It  is  land  which  he  holds  for  the  pure  and  only  purpose  of  exacting 
from  some  other  man,  later  born,  later  arrived,  later  developed — our 
carpenter,  for  instance — a  portion  of  his  labor,  or  the  result  of  it. 
He  holds  it  for  the  presumed  purpose  of  his  own  use,  but  actually 


78  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

for  the  purpose  of  exaction  ;  exaction  which  is  formulated  and  made 
respectable  through  sale  in  a  money  price,  or  through  letting,  in  a 
money  rent.  But  we  are  not  now  considering  the  justice  or  injustice 
of  this  holding,  only  its  tendency  to  impoverish  our  carpenter  who  has 
come  with  his  family  and  his  labor  to  the  city  where  all  land  is  held 
by  a  like  tenure. 

Let  us  suppose  that  he  can  secure  employment  and  receive  wages 
to  average  $75  per  month.  He  must  first  deduct  from  this  amount 
$24  per  month  for  shelter.  Rent  is  constructed  of  two  factors  :  ground 
rent  and  rent  of  improvement.  Payment  of  the  latter  is,  doubtless, 
just,  for  it  represents  the  labor  of  other  men;  but  for  the  rent  of 
land  he  should  not  pay,  as  neither  the  primitive  owner  nor  his 
assigns  have  any  right  to  demand  compensation  for  what  their 
labor  did  not  produce.  If  he  pays  $24  per  month  rent,  he  pays  land 
rent  to  the  estimated  amount  of  $12  or  $144  annually.  Here  is  the 
first  exaction  enforced  by  present  customs  and  laws,  the  accumulating 
results  of  which  are  enjoyed  by  the  non-producer ;  an  exaction 
which,  to  the  extent  estimated,  tends  unjustly  to  render  our  carpen- 
ter sooner  or  later  a  subject  of  charitable  labor. 

It  is  wealth  going  out  from  him  daily,  monthly,  to  the  landlord, 
without  return  to  him  from  the  landlord  of  any  extent  or  kind.  It 
tends  to  support  the  latter  in  idleness,  thus  promoting  another  evil 
in  society  of  no  inconsiderable  magnitude  and  portentous  import. 

But  let  us  scan  this  matter  with  a  closer  analysis.  What  consti- 
tutes the  value  in  the  sum  of  improvements  for  the  use  of  which  $12 
is  monthly  demanded  and  paid  ?  We  have  seen  that  rent  for  land 
alone  is  unjust  and  tends  to  beggar  the  party  from  whom  it  is  ex- 
acted ;  now  concerning  the  improvements  : 

Is  not  some  degree  of  exaction  covered  up  in  the  additional  $12 
which  are  demanded  for  the  use  of  improvements  ?  There  is  ;  the 
landlord  consults  with  himself  according  to  the  unfortunate  customs 
of  the  times  and  business  methods,  as  follows  :  "I  have  put  into  these 
improvements  $1000.  I  must,  beside  sustaining  these  structures  in 
their  originally  valuable  condition,  have  a  standard  interest  on  my 
money.  I  will  assign  for  wear  and  tear  and  insurance  $4,  and  for 
taxes  $2  per  month;  the  balance  $6  per  month  is  my  legal  and  right- 
ful interest." 

It  has  been  demonstrated  elsewhere*  that  interest  is  the  purest  and 
most  barefaced  exaction ;  a  compensation  demanded  for  a  fictitious 
value  and  enforced  by  society  for  the  support  of  an  income  class, 
retired  from  active  labor  not  alone  on  their  wealth,  but  on  what  their 
wealth  is  imaginatively,  and  erroneously  supposed  to  produce ;  en- 
forced also  through  the  necessities  of  an  enterprising,  active,  and 
industrious  portion  of  the  community,  already  deprived  use  of  their 

^See  chapter  on  Wealth  and  Interest. 


ANALYSIS    OF    MODES    OF    DESPOILMENT    CONTINUED.  79 

portion  of  the  common  heritage,  and  intent  on  winning  their  way 
back,  through  established  avenues,  to  their  natural  rights  in  the 
sources  of  wealth. 

Monthly,  $6  is  added  by  the  landlord  and  paid  by  our  carpenter 
as  interest  on  money,  which  money  in  itself  can  and  does  produce 
nothing  and  is  entitled,  therefore,  to  no  compensation.  This 
increases  the  monthly  sum,  which — taken  from  him  and  return- 
ing nothing — tends  through  the  matter  of  shelter  alone  to  place 
him  in  the  ranks  of  the  destitute  from  $12  to  $i 8 — $12  being  exacted 
unjustly  for  land  rental  and  $6  for  interest  on  money  advanced  for 
improvements. 

But  there  is  another  step  to  this  analysis,  which  on  the  single  item 
of  shelter  increases  the  burden  and  sends  our  hero  on  the  down 
grade  towards  destitution. 

The  buildings  and  fixtures  involve  the  purchase  in  open  market 
of  a  long  line  of  commodities  which  have  been  produced  by  pro- 
moters and  exploiters  of  industrial  operations,  among  which  are 
lumber,  shingles,  plumbing  materials,  glass,  brick,  marble,  nails,  and 
door  and  window  fixtures.  The  landlord  is  a  fair-minded,  honest 
man  of  business ;  gets  as  much  as  possible  for  what  he  gives,  and 
pays  out  as  little  as  possible  for  what  he  gets.  But  he  finds  himself 
dealing  with  lumbermen,  brickmakers,  marble  workers,  dealers  in 
nails,  glass,  plumbing  material — many  of  whom  are  paying  to  other 
parties  rents,  interest  and  profit — all  of  whom  are  intent  on  drawing 
from  him  as  much  more  than  cost  as  is  possible ;  intent  on  taking 
the  indeterminate  percentage  known  as  profit.* 

Under  the  operation  of  this  exaction,  which  is  sustained  in  the 
industrial  world  not  by  justice,  but  by  power,  the  present  end  of 
production  being  profit,  and  every  man  exacting  all  he  can  collect, 
it  is  presumed  that  the  $1,000  of  the  landlord  brings  him  values 
really  worth  but  $800.  In  other  words,  the  improvements  measured 
by  their  cost,  their  actual  value  instead  of  drawing  from  him  $1,000, 
should  have  drawn  from  him  $800.  But  as  $1,000  in  money  went 
out  from  him,  he  figures  his  interest  account  on  $1,000  and  in 
charging  up  rent  to  our  carpenter,  compels  him  to  pay  in  rent  for 
improvements,  an  excess  of  interest  on  $200;  which,  had  he  himself 
not  been  the  victim  of  a  system  of  exaction,  under  the  name  of  profits, 
could  have  been  remitted. 

Interest  on  $1,000  being  $6  monthly,  interest  on  $800  would  be 
$4.80.  Hence,  another  monthly  exaction  of  $1.20,  supported  and 
warranted  to  the  landlord  by  the  exactions  of  profit  indulged  in  by 
manufacturers  and  merchants  from  whom  he  has  purchased  his  mate- 
rials, is  saddled  upon  our  carpenter^  engaged  thus  far  in  securing  but 
the  one  item  of  shelter  for  himself  and  his  family ;  being  a   total  of 

*See  chapter  on  Capital-nature  of  profit.  • 


8o  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

$19.20  monthly  exaction  for  which  he  is  not,  or  ought  not  to  be,  justly 
chargeable.  The  landlord  having  submitted  to  the  exaction  of  profit, 
placed  on  commodites,  which  he  has  purchased  by  manufacturers 
and  tradesmen,  throws  the  burden  at  once  upon  the   rentor. 

Thus  far,  the  single  item  of  shelter. 

As  to  the  items  of  raiment  and  food,  if  investigation  be  carried 
through  similar  steps,  it  will  be  found  he  is  the  victim  of  like  exac- 
tions imposed  upon  him  by  all  dealers  ;  a  system  of  exactions,  which 
has  been  engrafted  on  industrial  processes,  and  which,  not  being  firmly 
established  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  industrial  rights,  he  can  not  avoid. 

If  he  is  followed  through  his  outlays  for  the  common  appliances  of 
health,  education  and  moral  and  religious  culture,  to  say  nothing  of 
art,  music  and  travel,  before  the  month  has  passed,  from  one-fourth  to 
one-half  his  income  has  gone  out  in  enforced  payment  for  values  which 
he  has  not  received,  and  in  the  custom  and  current  of  industrial 
efforts,  cannot  lay  hold  of ;  and  to  that  extent  he  has  been  advanced 
on  the  downward  road  to  poverty  and  ultimate  dependence  on  char- 
itable labor. 

But  the  money  he  has  paid,  over  and  above  what  clean-cut  justice 
would  have  demanded  from  him,  for  what  he  has  received,  where 
has  it  gone  ?  In  land-rent  to  the  landlord,  and  through  him  in  inter- 
est and  profit  to  him  or  others,  in  excessive  payment  for  raiment, 
which  is  interlaced  as  to  its  every  fibre  with  the  insidious  penetralia 
of  rent,  profit  and  interest,  in  superfluous  disbursement  for  food,  every 
mouthful  of  which  carries  the  triple  burdens  of  rent,  a  interest  and 
profit,  and  in  exactive  expenditures  for  the  indispensable  et  ceteras  of 
modern  life  ;  gone  into  the  coffers  of  those,  who  through  unusual  skill 
and  unscrupulousness,  by  means  of  opportunities  taken  and  distrain- 
ed from  the  common  heritage,  have  gathered  about  them  in  royal 
munificence  the  wealth  of  the  community;  gone  to  one,  to  several, 
to  many  engaged  in  various  occupations  of  industrial  life. 

But  a  day  of  enforced  idleness  comes ;  possibly  accident,  sickness, 
misfortune  or  death ;  surplusages,  which  in  the  absence  of  the  exac- 
tions alluded  to,  would  have  been  laid  by  for  a  "rainy  day,"  are 
wanting.  Hunger  and.cold  stare  him  in  the  face,  and  storm  marshalls 
its  embattling  winds  and  waves.  Food,  raiment  and  shelter  must  be 
found.  Needy  and  unable  to  provide,  our  carpenter  falls  necessarily 
under  the  notice  of  organized  charity,  private  or  public. 

The  inquiry  may  be  reasonably  raised,  as  our  carpenter  is  the 
object  of  a  system  of  successive  despoilments,  through  rent,  interest 
and  profit,  is  he  not  so  situated  as  a  unit  of  a  social  system,  and 
does  he  not  hold  the  power,  whereby,  from  other  members  of  the 
same  society,  he  may  recover  the  actual  losses  which,  through  the 
exactions  of  rent,  profit  and  interest,  he  has  been  compelled  to  suffer? 

The  answer  to  this  query  is,  emphatically,  no.     Assuming  men  to 


HOW    CHARITABLE    LABOR    ACHIEVES    RESTITUTION.  61 

What  has  been  taken  from  this  man  through  profit,  rent  and  inter- 
est, must  be  given  back  to  him.  The  values  which  he  has  pro- 
duced and  which  should  have  been  in  his  hands  are  somewhere  cur- 
rent, and  especially  among  the  rich  in  the  community  ;  they  must  be 
collected  and  returned  to  him.  To  do  this,  to  supply  wants,  which, 
had  he  not,  like  other  thousands,  been  the  victim  of  industrial 
exactions,  he  could  have  supplied  himself,  the  labor  of  the  charity- 
corps  is  brought  into  requisition.  Its  true  province  is  that  of  restitu- 
tion. The  charitable  themselves,  scarcely  recognizing  the  nature  of 
their  labor,  unconscious  that  they  are  the  agents  of  compensatory 
justice,  go  intuitively  to  the  wealthy  of  the  community  for  the  values 
wherewith  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  needy  carpenter  ;  values,  which 
produced  by  him,*  but  transferred  to  others  through  rent,  profit  and 
interest,  have  made  them  superabundantly  rich,  and  him  sufferingly 
poor. 

Few,  if  any  of  those  who  have  practiced  and  prospered  upon 
this  insidious  method  of  despoilment,  are  aware  of  its  real  tendencies 
and  results ;  of  what  is  justly  due  from  themselves  to  the  needy  and 
destitute ;  but  through  kindly  sympathy,  on  appeal  from  the  laborer 
in  charity,  they  donate  some  small  proportion  of  thfeir  surplusages  so 
secured,  to  charitable  persons  or  institutions,  and  through  these 
avenues  their  wealth  goes  back  to  supply  the  want  of  them  whom  they 
have  unconsciously  despoiled  and  disabled. 

That  giving  large  sums  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  impoverished 
and  despoiled,  under  the  present  system  of  business,  with  its  enrich- 
ments on  the  one  hand,  and  its  impoverishments  on  the  other,  is  an 
industrial  duty  of  paramount  authority,  cannot  be  denied.  It  is  the 
principle,  if  not  the  only  method  by  which  an  even  and  healthy  cur- 
rent of  wealth  can  be  maintained  and  the  fatal  results  of  preponder- 
ating accumulations  be  obviated.  So  long  as  industrial  warfare — 
competition — is  the  supported  principle  of  industrial  enterprise,  so 
long  as  to  the  prior  and  strong,  mentally  and  physically,  through  the 
exercise  of  might,  the  prizes  of  wealth  and  fortune  fall,  so  long  may 
it  be  assumed,  and  logically  demonstrated,  that  an  obligation  of 
duty  rests  with  the  rich  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  the  impoverished 
and  needy.  It  is  not  asserted  that  direct  giving  to  any  one  is  thfr 
best  that  can  be  done  for  him  ;  but  while  the  opulent  and  wealthy 
support  a  system  which  must  needs  result  in  abundance  with  a  few,, 
and  lack  and  poverty  with  the  many,  so  long  must  the  rich,  in  the 
prosecution  of  industrial  duty,  supply  the  wants  of  the  industrious 
poor.  In  other  words,  if  the  world  will  support  and  perpetuate  an 
industrial  warfare,  the  world  must,  either  through  private  or  public 
charity,  in  duty,  take  care  of  the  wounded,  disabled,  and  dying,  and 

'He  is  but  one  of  many  so  exploited. 


82  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

the  funds  should  come  by  private  donation  or  public  taxation,  prin- 
cipally from  the  wealthy  and  fortunate. 

The  inquiry  may  be  reasonably  raised,  as  our  carpenter  is  the 
object  of  a  system  of  successive  despoilments,  through  rent,  interest 
and  profit,  is  he  not  so  situated  as  a  unit  of  a  social  system,  and 
does  he  not  hold  the  power,  whereby,  from  other  members  of  the 
same  society,  he  may  recover  the  actual  losses  which,  through  the 
exactions  of  rent,  profit  and  interest,  he  has  been  compelled  to  suffer  ? 

The  answer  to  this  query  is,  emphatically,  no.  Assuming  men  to 
be  proximately  equal  in  capacity  and  power,  no  one  can,  for  a  pro- 
tracted period,  continue  to  draw  from  the  personal  resources,  the 
labor  power  of  another,  unless  he  has  secured  over  him  superior  ad- 
vantages ;  unless  he  has  planted  himself  on  the  soil,  secured  the 
raw  material  upon  which  all  labor  must  needs  be  applied,  appropri- 
ated the  natural  fraction  of  provisions  and  excluded  the  other  by  law 
and  permanent  investiture  therefrom.  Our  carpenter,  and  like  him 
many,  if  not  most  other  employees,  hold  no  such  grounds  of  vantage. 
He  and  they  are  the  under  dogs  of  the  industrial  contention,  until, 
through  chance,  change  or  the  opening  of  new  opportunities,  he  is 
enabled  to  plant  himself  squarely  and  firmly  on  his  natural  rights  in 
the  common  heritage.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  him  to  recover  from 
others  by  retaliatory  exaction  any  sensible  amounts,  until  he  has  not 
only  secured  that  footing  on  the  land  and  in  the  natural  values 
which  places  him  in  that  just  and  equal  position  which  he  should,  as  a 
man,  occupy,  but  secured  some  portions  of  the  natural  values  in  the 
soil,  raw  material  and  primitive  possessions,  which  of  right  belongs 
to  others.  As  situated  in  the  hypothetical  case,  he  is  in  ownership  of 
neither  land  nor  the  other  bases  of  exaction  ;  he  is  in  the  position 
alone  of  a  free  American  citizen,  in  the  enjoyment  of  what  is  known 
as  personal  freedom,  but  conditioned  industrially,  and  thence  polit- 
ically and  civilly,  to  be  plucked  of  a  large  percentage  of  those  values 
which  should  of  right  come  to  him  by  heritage  and  by  his  own  labor. 

What  an  employee  receives  as  wages  is  merely  a  residue  of  values 
which  he  should  receive,  and  which  the  employer  doles  out  to  him  to 
enable  him  to  keep  himself  in  vigorous  condition  for  further  labor ; 
the  surplus  results  of  which,  except  under  extraordinary  circum- 
stances, must  continue  to  go  to  the  employer. 

Never,  in  the  history  of  our  civilization,  has  the  cruel  injustice  of 
proletarian  production  ;  with  the  employer  and  the  wage  worker ;  been 
put  to  its  most  complete  and  logical  trial.  Experience  has  but  inti- 
mated under  elastic  conditions,  the  barbarous  injustice  of  its  nature, 
it  would  seem  that  Providence,  cognizant  of  the  inhumanity  which  it 
embodies,  had  kindly  arranged  that  it  should  never  be  pushed  to  its 
most  intense  and  extreme  results.  A  change  of  industrial  conditions 
from  chattel  slavery  of  centuries  gone,  to  better  industrial  conditions, 


CRUELTY    OF    EMPLOYERS HOW    IT    HAS    BEEN    FORESTALLED.    83 

yet  to  be  reached,  must  needs  have  been  made  through  the  slavery  in- 
cident to  employeeism — the  latter  to  give  way  to  a  general  system 
of  employment,  whereby  every  man  employs  and  is  employed  by 
every  other  man.  But  in  this  gradual  transition  from  the  worse  to 
the  better — a  transition,  which,  commencing  in  the  self  employment 
of  the  middle  ages,  has  reached  its  present  status  only  after  several 
centuries  of  slow  progress,  the  extreme,  grinding  cruelties  ingrained 
in  the  nature  of  the  transitional  system  of  wage  slavery,  'has  been 
made  avoidable  by  events  affecting  the  industrial,  and  especially  the 
commercial  status  of  the  entire  world.  Long  before  proletarianism 
had  shown  its  tendency  and  power  to  enslave  the  laboring,  employed 
population  of  European  nations,  Columbus  had  made  his  voyage  of 
discovery,  and  opened  the  islands  and  continents  of  America  to  the 
down-trodden  and  oppressed  of  every  land.  Independent  of  relig- 
ious, political  and  civil  causes  of  discontent  among  European 
people,  through  the  crushing  force  of  the  then  new  slavery — a  slavery 
whose  cruel  characteristics  are  as  yet  scarcely  understood — its  vic- 
tims, those  employees,  whom  Mr.  Thornton  asserts  have  no  natural 
rights,  save  to  contract  for  the  sale  of  their  labor,  who  could  or 
would  no  longer  "bear  the  ills  "they  had  "rather  than  fly  to  others  " 
they  "knew  not  of," in  numbers  gradually  increasing,  soughfto  regain 
their  real  rights^-Mr.  Thornton,  to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding — 
on  the  soil  and  in  the  raw  material  and  natural  wealth,  not  only  of  the 
unenclosed  commons  of  the  various  nations  of  Europe,  but  of  the 
vast  and  comparatively  unoccupied  regions  of  the  new  continent.  As 
the  new  and  increasing  power  of  wage  slaver)^  by  every  turn  of  the 
screw,  rendered  possible  by  increasing  population  and  greater  num- 
bers of  the  unemployed,  ground  the  employee  class,  laboring  from 
twelve  to  sixteen  hours  per  day,  to  the  verge  of  desperation,  through 
various  means,  secured  by  various  influences,  they  made  their  way  to 
the  open  lands  and  free  natural  wealth  of  America,  and  there  re- 
gained their  industrial,  and  established  their  political  and  civil  liber- 
ties. 

It  is  but  little  understood  how  powerfully  the  industrial  condi- 
tions of  Europe,  the  pressure  of  employer  upon  employee,  influenced 
the  exodus  of  their  various  peoples  to  America.  The  common  im- 
pression is  that  civil,  political  and  religious  causes  promoted  the 
European  hegira  ;  but  if  the  matter  is  closely  scanned,  it  will  be  found 
that  industrial  causes  were  paramount. 

This  open  vent  of  the  unenclosed  commons  and  the  broad  unoccu- 
pied domain  of  the  new  continent  and  its  clusters  of  rich  and  fruitful 
islands  has  saved — prevented — the  nations  of  Europe  from  realizing 
the  galling  cruelties  inherent  in  the  present  proletarian  competitive  sys- 
tem of  industry.  From  ocean  to  ocean  America  has  been  overrun 
by  the  immigrating  hordes  of  Europe.    Three  centuries  have  sufficed 


84  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

for  the  wave  of  population  to  swell  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific.  Thirty  years  since  the  wave  began  to  roll  eastward  from 
the  Pacific,  and  at  this  moment  the  points  of  vantage  and  the 
best  portions  of  the  soil  have  been  enslaved,  and  conditions  are  rap- 
idly approximating  those  existent  in  the  thickly  populated  portions 
of  Europe.  Australia  and  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  are  opened,  and, 
from  the  same  industrial  causes,  the  migrating  hordes  of  Asia  in  defi- 
ance of  laws,  are  entering  those  sparsely  settled  territories. 

In  general,  the  result  is  that  the  vent  which  has  been  open  to  re- 
lieve the  crowding  and  pressure  of  the  employer  class  upon  their 
expropriated  employees,  is  rapidly  disappearing ;  and  the  further 
result,  and  that  most  important  to  this  discussion,  is  manifest  in 
the  growing  complaints  and  mutterings  of  discontent,  which,  coming 
from  the  proletarian  slaves,  encircle  the  globe  ;  complaints  and  mut- 
terings which  demand,  and  will  have,  satisfactory  and  remedial 
answer.  With  these  millions  of  expropriated,  enslaved  and  despoiled 
— enslaved  not  by  touching;  their  person,  but  by  excluding  them  from 
what,  in  nature,  the  persons  must  have  or  die ;  despoiled,  not  by  wild, 
tumultuous  and  violent  plunder,  but  by  exactions  executed  under  en- 
forced contracts,  through  scanty  wages — with  these  millions  it  is  the 
same  stofy  variously  detailed  which  has  been  rehearsed  concerning 
our  carpenter. 

To  sagacious  capitalistic  employers  and  their  financiering  co-adju- 
tors,  the  present  system  of  wage-slavery  is  more  economical,  brings 
greater  profits,  than  it  is  possible  to  attain  from  the  management 
of  chattel  slaves.  The  care  of  the  latter  under  all  vicissitudes  of 
their  precarious  health  and  life,  so  absorbed  the  profits  of  the  south- 
ern planters,  that  few  of  them  with  abundant  access  to  the  sources  of 
prosperity,  attained  great  wealth.  The  large  majority  of  them  merely 
held  their  own  against  the  demands  of  their  creditors,  and  not  a  few, 
never  knew  what  it  was  to  be  balanced  with  the  world.  In  place  of 
paying  wages,  the  entire  wants  of  the  negro  workers,  in  infancy  or  age, 
in  sickness  or  health,  were  supplied  from  the  resources  of  the  masters, 
and  with  few  exceptions,  barring  the  indulgence  of  luxury,  art  and 
refinement,  the  laborers  lived  with  little  anxiety  or  trouble  on  the 
"fat  of  the  land."  The  emphatic  truth  well  understood  by  the  most 
sagacious  industrial  leaders  was  expressed  by  a  London  banker, 
*in  1862,  thus ;  "Slavery  is  likely  to  be  abolished  by  the  new  power, 
and  chattel  slavery  destroyed.  This,  I  and  my  European  friends 
are  in  favor  of ;  for  slavery  is  but  the  ownership  of  labor,  and  carries 
with  it  the  care  for  the  laborer ;  while  the  European  plan,  led  on  by 
England,  is  capital's  control  of  labor  by  controling  wages  and  the 
price  of  property,  which  can  be  done  by  controling  money." 

■Hazzard  :  extract  taken  from  "  Western  Rural." 


ORGANIZED    RESISTANCE    IMPERATIVE.  85 

And,  this  power  is  gathering  grasp  and  resistless  momentum  as 
time  elapses,  and  the  avenues  of  exit  to  other  countries  are  closed  by 
their  settlement,  or  by  laws  of  exclusion.  Organized  resistance  to  its 
exactions  and  cruelties  seem  to  be  the  only  avenue  left,  whereby 
the  wage-workers  may  be  saved  the  most  vicious  and  heartless  form 
of  slavery,  which  has  disgraced  the  annals  of  time. 


86  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

EMPLOYMENT,    ITS  CONNECTION  WITH 
INDUSTRIAL    DUTY. 

CHAPTEk  v.,  SECTION  III. 

In  addressing  the  term  duty,  in  its  industrial  sense,  to  a  person  or 
class  of  community,  it  is  to  be  assumed  that  the  person  or  class  ad- 
dressed have  been  recipients  of  values,  which,  if  they  hold  by  any 
admissible  tenure,  they  hold  first  for  their  own  use,  and  second 
from,  or  for  the  use  of  others  ;  that  they  are  the  executors,  probably, 
the  self  constituted  executors  of  an  implied  contract  existing  either 
between  themselves  and  another  party,  or,  between  two  other  parties  ; 
and  that  the  values  in  their  possession  after  use  has  been  secured  to 
themselves,  ought,  in  justice,  through  execution  of  fiduciary  trusts, 
be  passed  to  others. 

Most  that  is  to  be  said  concerning  industrial  duties  is  of  necessity, 
addressed  to  those  who  through  priority,  power  or  purchase  *have 
secured  exclusive  ownership  or  control  of  the  natural  and  created 
sources  of  those  commodities  which  are  required  to  supply  the  wants 
and  give  effectiveness  to  the  efforts  of  the  human  race.  Being  in 
possession  of  that  which  has  been  created,  either  through  natural  or 
social  development,  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  it  is  due  from  them, 
in  some  forms  and  adequate  quantities  to  their  fellow  men. 

The  consideration  that  such  dues  are  not  recognized  as  of  binding 
force ;  that,  of  nature's  resources,  what  men  get,  they  imagine  them- 
selves entitled  to  keep,  whether  they  are  to  them  of  utility  or  not,  and 
whether  they  would  or  would  not  be  of  utility  to  others,  renders  it  the 
more  necessary  that  the  truth  should  be  repeatedly  emphasized. 

To  be  impressed  with  the  idea  of  industrial  duty,  is  of  the  more 
imperative  importance,  inasmuch  as  those  who  now  conduct  the  in- 
dustrial enterprises  of  the  world,  are  inheritors  of  a  system  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution,  which  they  did  not  personally  originate, 
and  for  the  misery  and  unfortunate  phases  of  which  they  are  not  per- 
sonally responsible ;  but  which  it  becomes  their  duty  to  modify,  di- 
minish and  eliminate. 

The  term  employment  in  its  most  common  acceptation  implies  oc- 
cupation under  the  direction  and  pay  of  a  second  party.  Self  em- 
ployment is  especially  connected  with  primitive  and  isolated  phrases 
of  life.  It  constitutes  what  may  be  termed  industrial  individualism, 
and  is  made  possible  only  to  those  who  have  access  to  the  earth's  sur- 

*Purchase  is  but  a  mode  of  transmitting  the  seizures  of  priority  and  power. 


ORIGIN    AND    NATURE    OF    COMPETITION.  87 

face,  its  soil,  raw-material,  temporary  provisions,  and  the  current 
facilities  for  production.  It  may  be  conducted  with  or  without  exchange 
of  the  products  brought  into  existence  through  applied  labor  ;  if  with- 
out exchange,  it  constitutes  what  may  be  termed  pure  industrial  in- 
dividualism ;  if  with  exchange,  it  is  appropriately  termed,  modified 
industrial  individualism. 

But  employment,  as  it  is  intended  here  to  consider  it,  is  not  self- 
employment  ;  it  involves  the  division  of  the  industrial  forces  into  two 
classes,  known  on  the  one  hand  as  employers  and  on  the  other  as 
employees ;  classes  whose  interests  at  one  and  the  same  time  are 
identical  and  yet  antagonistic  ;  identical  as  to  the  processes  of  pro- 
duction, but  antagonistic  as  to  the  pre-eminent  interesting  matter  of 
distribution.  It  is  at  this  point  where  the  struggle  of  competition 
makes  itself  felt.  For  centuries  socialistic  production  has  marked 
the  activity  of  the  industrial  world.  In  those  times  and  portions  of 
the  world  where  patriarchal  or  chattel  slavery  held  the  laborers  of 
different  nations  in  bondage,  no  struggle  was  maintained  over  the 
distribution  of  commodities  produced.  The  master  through  a  right 
assumed  by  himself  and  assented  to  by  the  slave,  took  the  product 
and  cared  for  the  slave.  But  as  patriarchal  and  chattel  slavery  yielded 
little  by  little,  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  and  proletarian  or'  wage 
employment  took  its  place  here  and  there,  as  modes  and  appli- 
ances of  production  attained  increasing  variety,  and  the  division  of 
labor  and  concentration  of  the  sources  of  wealth  forced  the  laborers 
of  the  world  out  of  the  individualistic  production  prevalent  in  the 
middle  ages,  and  entered  them  in  the  lists  of  social,  or  co-operative 
production  now  maintained  throughout  Europe  and  America,  then 
commenced  the  conflict  between  employer  and  employee  for  a  distri- 
bution of  the  combined  results  of  their  joint  production;  a  desirable 
distribution  ;  distribution  satisfactory  to  both  parties. 

The  advance  of.those  principles  of  freedom  which  have  marked 
national  and  race  movements  for  eighteen  centuries,  has  got  no  far- 
ther on  the  industrial  plane  than  to  permit  the  employer  and  employee 
to  contract  and  fight,  and  fight  and  contract  over  the  distribution  of 
wealth  produced  by  their  joint  industry.  It  is  a  humiliating  confes- 
sion, but  in  accordance  with  facts.  Questions  of  right  on  one  side 
and  duty  on  the  other  ;  the  application  of  justice,  where  of  all  points 
it  needs  most  to  be  applied,  have  scarcely  been  heeded.  On  either 
side,  in  practicalizing  adjustments,  has  been  a  question  of  might;  and 
while  the  right  has  been  principally  on  the  side  of  employees,  neither 
party  has,  until  recently,  become  cognizant  of  the  equities  and  phi- 
losophies which  have  underlaid  and  still  underlie  the  prolonged  strug- 
gle. On  the  part  of  employees  the  complaint  has  been  to  employ- 
ers, "  You  are  getting  too  much  of  the  produce,  we  want  and  must 
have  higher  wages  ; "  and  the  general  reply  has  been,  "  We  are  pay- 


88  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

ing  you  all  we  can  afford  ;  if  we  pay  more  we  shall  have  no  profit." 
Even  Mr.  Thornton  assumes  that  no  equities  lie  between  the  con- 
tending forces ;  that  it  is  principally  a  question  on  either  side  of  de- 
sire for  more  wealth  ;  a  desire  which  finds  expression  in  the  power 
and  endurance  of  forces,  marshaled  to  secure  and  maintain  their  re- 
spective demands.  He  maintains  that  no  obligation  exists  on  the 
part  of  the  employer  to  engage  in  productive  industry ;  none  to 
furnish  employment  to  laborers ;  no  obligation,  indeed,  except  when 
he  chooses  to  engage  in  productive  enterprise,  elects  to  employ  oth- 
ers and  enters  into  a  contract,  expressed  or  implied,  to  pay  current 
or  specific  wages,  he  is  bound  by  his  contract.  On  the  other  hand 
he-  maintains  that  the  laborer  is  under  no  obligation ;  may  refuse  to 
work  as  long  as  he  so  chooses ;  but  when  he  accepts  employment  he 
also  is  bound  by  his  expressed  or  implied  contract  of  so  many  hours 
labor  for  so  much  money.  He  maintains,  however,  that  the  right 
attaches  with  either  party,  to^finesse,  strategize,  combine  and  contend 
for  better  contracts.  Indeed,  he  assumes  the  position  recognized 
throughout  the  civilized  world  that  the  right  of  individuals  to  con- 
tract is  the  true  basis  of  organized  society,  and  the  substantial,  under- 
lying element  of  industrial  harmony ;  but  in  this  assumption  which 
is  sustained  by  the  past  and  current,  and  it  must  be  asserted  the 
narrow  and  shallow  thought  of  the  busy  world,  he  practically  ignores 
that  essence  of  contract,  which  is  deliberate,  intelligent  and  uncon- 
strained consent. 

No  person  can  be  said  to  have  made  a  binding  contract,  who  has 
been  ignorant  of  the  premises  ;  ignorant  of  the  tendencies  of  his  pro- 
posed action  and  the  results  thereof  to  himself  and  others,  or  who 
has  undertaken  it  under  duress  of  mterior  impulse,  predjudice  or 
passion,  or  the  restraining  power  of  exterior  conditions  operating  up- 
on him  with  immovable  resistance.  It  must  be  admitted,  under  these 
conditions,  which  must  commend  themselves  to  the  considerate 
judgment  of  the  thoughtful,  as  indispensable  to  a  binding  consent, 
valid,  durable  contracts  have  rarely  been  made.  If,  in  industrial  life 
between  employers  and  employees,  either  or  both  parties  are  war- 
ranted at  any  time — except  compensation  and  time  or  result  be  directly 
and  explicitly  stipulated — in  combining  for  better  contracts,  the  ele- 
ments of  permanency  is  eleminated  and  consent — if  it  can  be  so 
named — is  or  may  be  of  so  short  duration,  that  consent  may  be  said 
never  to  have  been  gained  or  given. 

A  condition  of  society,  or  of  the  relations  between  employer  and 
employee,  which,  without  special  stipulation,  leaves  every  contract 
liable  to  be  changed  by  the  admitted  right  of  both  parties,  the 
moment  after  it  is  consented  to,  indicates  a  radical  wrong,  an  irre- 
pressible injustice,  which  surges,  and  will  continue  to  surge  against 
the  peace  and  stability  of  social  and  industrial    conditions  until  the 


'        MR.  Thornton's  position  untenable.  89 

wrong  is  righted  and  the  injustice  eliminated.  There  is  that  in  the 
very  soul  of  persons  and  substance  of  things,  which,  irrespective  of 
the  conflict  engendered  by  greed  between  individuals  and  classes, 
between  nation  and  nation,  intuitively  accepts  as  settled  and  unas- 
sailable, those  private  or  public  opinions  or  acts,  which  rest  upon 
private  or  public  justice.  In  other  words,  when  justice  is  estab- 
lished between  employer  and  employee,  it  will  be  intuitively  recognized 
by  each  party  ;  encroachment  will  disappear  and  conflict  cease  to 
constitute,  as  it  does  now,  both  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  the  indus- 
trial order  of  the  day. 

In  the  light  of  well-known  facts  and  philosophies,  the  position  of 
Mr.  Thornton  is  positively  untenable.  He  ignores  conditions  and 
necessities  on  both  sides,  which,  in  determining  the  obligations  and 
responsibilities  of  employers  and  their  relations  to  employees,  are 
of  vital,  essential  importance.  He  first  ignores  the  fundamental  fact 
that  labor,  occupation  or  employment  is  dependent  on  conditions 
which  have  been  brought  into  existence  alone,  not  by  human  labor, 
but  by  the  intelligent,  beneficent  forces  ;  by  creative  power  ;  and  that 
no  man  can  employ  himself,  much  less  employ  others,  unless  he  has 
access  to,  and    control    of  those   conditions. 

How  can  one  labor  unless  .  he  has  a  footing  on  the 
soil?  how  can  he  employ  himself  unless  he  has  access  to 
and  control  not  only  of  himself,  but  of  land,  of  the  raw 
material  of  his  particular  form  of  labor,  of  the  natural  supply,  of 
food  and  clothing,  of  the  tools  and  implements  and  machinery, 
— through  whose  effectiveness  ra^  material  may  be  brought  into  com- 
modious forms,  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  the  cost  of  similar  commodi- 
ties, reaching  points  of  exchange  from  the  hands  of  other  laborers — 
and  of  the  current  facilities  of  transportion  and  exchange. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  necessity  of  money,  machinery  and 
provisions,  as  conditions  of  successful  self-employment,  two  indis- 
pensable requisites  of  production — of  employment — exist,  which 
embrace  values  brought  into  existence  only  by  a  common  pro- 
vider. No  man  can  create  or  produce  land  or  raw  material ;  no  man 
can  produce  other  commodities  unless  he  has  these  prerequisites  of 
productive  self-employment,  and  no  man  has  an  equitable  right  to 
more  than  his  fair  proportion  of  these  constituent  sections  of  the  com- 
mon heritage.  Furthermore,  if  by  any  means  whatever,  priority, 
heredity,  purchase  or  royal  bequest,  any  man  holds  more  than  his 
just  proportion  of  this  common  heritage,  and  thereby  excludes  an- 
other from  enjoyment  of  that  portion  to  which  the  latter  is  entitled, 
from  that  7?ioment,  an  obligation,  personal  or  social,  attaches  against 
the  appropriator  and  in  favor  of  the  expropriated,  first  for  support, 
second  for  employment  and  wages  which  will  include  the  full 
value  of  the  labor  applied    by  the  wage  worker,  in  addition   to  his 


90  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

rightful  interest  as  a  common  inheritor  in  the  raw  material  that 
goes  in  wealth  to  the  market,  upon  which  the  labor  of  the  latter  has 
been  applied  ;  fourth,  for  such  restitution  as  will  place  the  expropriated 
in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  natural  rights. 

Nor  is  Mr.  Thornton's  position  regarding  the  rights  and  possibili- 
ties connected  with  the  life  of  employed  laborers,  more  tenable  than 
those  assumed  regarding  employers.  He  assumes  that  a  laborer  may 
work  or  refuse  to  work  ;  that  in  this  respect  his  choice  is  free,  and 
he  is  placed  thereby  in  a  position  and  with  a  power  equal  to  that 
held  by  the  employer  ;  that  the  latter  has  no  material  advantage  over 
him  ;  that  it  is  an  even  stand-up  between  the  parties  to  a  privileged 
conflict. 

.  In  this  he  errs.  The  laborer  has  no  choice ;  he  must  work  or 
starve,  become  a  criminal  or  pauper,  dependent  or  delinquent.  A 
few  days  may  elapse,  but  sooner  or  later  he  must  work.  From  him 
are  taken  access  to  even  the  natural  food  of  the  primitive  man — 
wild  berries,  niits,  fruit,  fish  and  flesh.  These  means  of  the  poor- 
est sustenance  are  obliterated  by  an  advanced  civilization — a  civiliza- 
tion which  makes  every  man  a  unit  of  itself.  If  he  lives  at  all,  he 
must  live  from  food  produced  as  is  produced  the  food  of  the  em- 
ployer. There  is  no  alternative;  he  must  go  to  work,  and  if  he 
works  he  must  stand  on  the  land  held  by  the  employer,  apply  his 
labor  to  raw  material,  azid  latterly,  through  tools,  machinery  and  fix- 
tures owned  by  the  employer.  He  cannot  do  a  stroke  of  productive 
work  in  supply  of  his  wants  without  the  consent  of  the  owner. 
Though  as  to  his  personality,  the  handling  of  his  limbs,  the  evolution 
and  utterance  of  his  thoughts,  the  choice  of  his  employer  he  may  be 
a  free  man,  yet  to  some  one  of  the  class  of  employers,  he  must  show 
his  weakness  and  dependence. 

No  chains  are  about  him ;  but  through  the  necessary  relation  be- 
tween his  imperative  wants  and  the  material  essences  and  existence 
around  him,  and  the  absolute  fetterment  of  the  latter,  by  law,  to  the 
entire  class  of  employers,  he  is  their  slave,  or  the  slave  of  enforced 
starvation.  He  is  compelled  to  enter  their  service  at  their  terms 
through  legalized  exclusion,  which,  for  services  rendered,  the  employer, 
may  personally  mitigate.  That  the  terms  are  less  harsh  than  those 
of  chattel  slavery — if  they  are,  all  things  considered,  is  a  question — 
does  not  modify  the  absolute  helplessness  and  consequent  depend- 
ence of  the  laborer  so  situated,  on  the  employer,  so  circumstanced. 
The  latter,  having  secured  the  exclusion  of  the  former,  is  fully  armed 
for  resistless  exaction ;  and  if  he  does  not  exercise  it  to  the  full  extent, 
as  under  the  regime  of  chattel  slavery,  it  is  not  because  the  laborer  is 
not  absolutely  in  his  power. 

The  principle  escape  from  the  logic  and  the  realities  of  this  system 
of  industry,  of  these  relations  between  employer  and  employee,    has 


DUTY  OF  EMPLOYERS  DISCHARGED  BY  FURNISHING  EMPLOYMENT.        9 1 

been  and  is,  that  some  remnants — the  poorest  portions  usually — of 
the  common  heritage,  of  the  land,  raw  material,  natural  food  and 
elements  of  shelter,  especially  in  Great  Britain  and  some  parts  of 
Europe,  have  been  left  open  to  the  joint  and  partial  use  of  laborers. 
When  the  exactions  of  employers  have  been  carried  to  an  unbearable 
extremity,  the  laborers  could  relieve  the  tension  upon  them  by  re- 
sorting to  the  commons.  Another  vent,  and  that  which  up  to  a 
recent  period,  has  prevented  employees  from  the  extreme  exactions 
which  their  positions,  if  fully  maintained,  would  enable  them  to  in- 
dulge in,  has  been  that  of  emigration.  As  the  common  lands  were 
gradually  appropriated  and  fenced  in,  discoveries  opened  new  coun- 
tries for  settlement.  The  Americas  and  Islands  of  the  Ocean  have 
afforded  such  avenues  of  escape  to  the  oppressions  which  employers 
were  inclined  to  impose  upon  their  employees,  that  the  power  of  the 
tormer  over  the  latter  has  never  been  carried  to  the  extreme,  which 
the  real  nature  of  their  respective  relations,  without  some  safety  valve, 
would  warrant  and  enable  the  former  to  enforce.  Place  the 
machinery  thus  :  Employers  in  possession  of  land,  raw  material, 
provisions,  machinery  and  the  means  of  exchange,  and  the 
employees  with  the  latent  labor  of  their  bodies  and  brains,  and 
no  avenues  of  escape  from  the  conditions  ;  let  the  machinery  be  set 
in  operation,  and  the'- result  would  show  that  employers  are  abso)ute 
masters  of  the  situation  ;  that  by  control  of  the  price  of  wages  and 
the  price  of  commodity  and  property,  employees  would  be  held  in  an 
industrial  limitation  so  narrow  that  no  form  of  slavery  could  be  made 
to  exceed  the  injustice  and  cruelty. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  status  described  as  existing  between  em- 
ployees on  one  side  and  employers  on  the  other.  What  man  claiming 
and  exercising  the  faculty  of  reason  and  sense  of  justice,  will  assert 
that  no  obligation  or  duty  exists  between  the  parties  of  the  first  and 
second  part  ;  between  employers  and  employees  ?  Aside  from  the 
stated  conditions  the  one  circumstance  of  a  contest  continuing 
through  decades  and  centuries  is  prima  facie  evidence  that  injustice 
exists,  and  it  is  injustice  that  rankles  and  rouses 'to  resistance. 

But  the  conditions  need  only  to  be  stated  ;  the  more  closely  the 
relations  are  examined,  the  more  clearly  and  broadly  the  obligation 
of  the  employer  to  the  employee,  aside  from  private  contract,  becomes 
manifest. 

It  is  to  be  assumed  that  all  men  being  created  to  live,  should  have 
been  and  were  provided  with  the  means  of  livelihood  necessary  to 
the  production  of  commodities  adapted  to  continue  life,  and  confer 
comfort  and  luxury  ;  that  the  necessity  to  labor,  inheres  with  every 
human  being,  and  with  the  necessity,  goes  the  riq;ht  to  natural  op- 
portunities, means  and  appliances  of  labor  :  and  that  every  man  who 
has,   by   any    means    whatever,    long   or   short,  direct  or   indirect, 


92  ^        WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

taken  these  opportunities  and  appliances  from  any  other  man  or 
class  of  men,  owes  the  latter  an  obligation  which  cannot  be  ignored 
or  set  aside. 

How  may,  how  should  this  obligation  be  disharged? 

It  can  be  proximately  discharged  through  one  of  several  avenues. 
First,  through  charity,  as  has  been  pointed  out  ;  second,  through 
employment,  as  will  be  next  shown  ;  and  third,  by  turning  over  to 
every  man  his  just  portion  of  the  opportunities  and  appliances  of  pro- 
duction and  placing  him  in  an  independent  position  of  self-employ- 
ment, with  consequent  possession  and  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his 
own  toil. 

The  term  employment  is  already  one  of  wide  scope  and  is  distined 
to  maintain  an  importance  second  to  none  in  the  industrial  vocabu- 
lary. It  signifies  occupation,  implies  labor,  and  through  its  common 
acceptation,  separates  the  industrial  forces  into  two  classes  :  the  em- 
ployer and  the  employee.  As  may  be  inferred  from  the  conditions 
which  make  it  possible  for  one  man  to  be  an  employer,  from  the  ex- 
clusive possession  and  ownership  of  the  sources  of  wealth,  the  position 
is  one  to  which  exaction — from  the  employee — most  readily  attaches. 
Except  in  isolated  and  rare  instances,  no  man  employs  another  unless 
the  former  presumes  he  will  be  able  to  reap  a  profit  from  the  labor 
of  the  latter.  In  words  more  definitely  expressed,  under  other  sys 
tems,  the  patriarch  or  master,  took  the  entire  product  without  remon- 
strance, as  both  laborer  and  product  belonged  to  him ;  but  under 
the  present  system,  which  rests  upon  a  pretense  of  personal  freedom 
and  equality  and  on  the  false  presumption  that  justice,  through  con- 
tract, is  operative  between  the  employer  and  employee,  the  employer 
demands  and  takes  from  the  employee,  not  only  his  portion  of  the 
common  heritage — natural  values — which  attach  to,  or  inhere  with 
every  article  of  commodity  that  labor  constructs  and  completes,  but 
he  exacts  a  percentage,  greater  or  less,  of  those  values  which,  to  the 
same  commodities,  have  been  added  by  the  effort  and  skill  of  the 
employee ;  he  takes  in  the  goods,  more  units  of  value  from  the  em- 
ployee, than  he  pays  back  to  him  in  money  ;  and  he  would  not, 
under  present  business  principles,  offer  employment  unless  sustained 
in  his  efforts  to  accumulate  the  most  possible  through  this  double  or 
compound  exaction. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  exaction  which  the  employer 
habitually  enforces  upon  his  employee,  and  which  the  former  rarely 
if  ever  recognizes  as  such,  consists  of  two  distinct  and  separable,  if 
not  separated  elements  ;  viz.,  Fiist,  that  portion  of  the  natural  values  * 
of  the  common  heritage,  adduced  and  produced  by  creative  labor, 
which  of  right  as  a  human  being  and  a  unit  of  society,  belongs  to 
the  employee,  and  of  which,  through  processes  of  slow  growth  and 


See  chapter  on  values. 


EXTENT  OF  THE  DUTY  OF  EMPLOYERS  TO  FURNISH  EMPLOYMENT.   93 

long  Standing  he  has  been  despoiled  ;  and  second,  of  those  values 
attached  to  commodities  and  produced  by  the  direct  labor  of  the 
employee  himself.  It  matters  not  that  these  distinct  values,  the  for- 
mer produced  by  creative  labor,  the  latter  by  human  labor,  are  not 
easily  segregated,  measured  or  weighed ;  nor  that  they  cannot  re- 
spectively be  easily  differentiated  in  dollars  or  pounds.  In  their 
totality  they  become  distinctly  and  palpably  manifest  in  the  disparity 
which  exists  in  the  respective  modes  of  life  and  substantial  material 
surroundings  enjoyed  by  the  small  class  of  employers  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  meagre  appointments  of  the  large  class  of  employees 
on  the  other  :  in  the  comparative  comfort  and  luxury  enjoyed  by  the 
former  and  the  antithetical  poverty,  distress  and  misery  suffered  by 
the  latter. 

It  is  the  sum  of  these  moieties,  these  distinct  factors,  which,  in  ex- 
act justice,  should  go  back  to  every  employee  from  the  employer; 
and  it  is  the  present  duty  of  every  employer  to  see  that  this  ideal 
of  wage  payment  is  lived  to  as  closely  as  the  varying  circumstances, 
and  especially  the  unfortunate  and  crushing  forces  of  competition 
will  permit. 

It  cannot  in  justice  be  forgotten,  that  owing  to  the  industrial  war- 
fare being  waged  among  employers,  to  place  in  the  market,  goods,  at 
a  cost  less  than  those  manufactured  by  competitors,  the  lot  of  an  em- 
ployer is  not  always  a  happy  lot.  On  the  other  hand  he  should  bear 
in  mind  that  it  is  himself,  his  competitive  peers  and  the  miserable 
characteristics  of  a  system  which  makes  them  competitive,  and  throws 
the  industrial  world  into  contending  armies  with  their  numberless 
squads  and  detachments,  each  struggling  under  business  customs  to 
secure  most  of  the  plunder  of  profit,  which  place  him  in  danger  and 
overthrow  his  plans  ;  should  remember  that  he  is  making  use  of  his 
employees — it  may  be,  feels  driven  to — to  secure  his  own  ends  and 
advance  his  own  interests  against  his  competitors,  and  that  his  em- 
ployees are  despoiled  and  impoverished  as  a  logical  result  of  his  am- 
bition and  greed ;  that  when  they  demand  in  wages,  even  to  the 
fullness  of  the  ideal  above  outlined,  they  are  demanding  no  more 
than  in  natural  justice  and  under  a  peaceable  and  equitable  system 
of  industry,  they  are  entitled  to. 

But  the  duty  of  employers  extends  beyond  the  questions  as  to  how 
much  wages  they  shall  pay  and  on  what  ideal  or  principle  they  shall 
be  paid.  Mr.  Thornton  and  his  followers  and  admirers  to  the  contrary, 
employers  are  under  conditional  obligation  to  furnish  enployment  to 
the  world's  wage-workers.  The  conditions  alluded  to,  involve  the 
holding  by  them  of  those  natural  and  social  opportunities  and  facili- 
ties which  enable  them  to  be  employers,  and  which  place  the  latter  in 
the  generally  irretrievable  position  of  employees. 

Of  the  natural  opportunities  and  means  for  employment,  land  and 


94  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

raw  material  and  provisions,  a  somewhat  definite  quantity  exists,  and 
is  available  therefor.  The  possession  of  no  one  of  these  factors  for 
successful  self-employment  is  adequate.  Every  man  to  stand  an 
equal  chance  with  every  other  man  must  be  in  the  equal,  and  easy 
use,  not  only  of  the  common  opportunities,  but  they  must  also  hold  the 
best  facilities  for  manufacture  and  exchange,  machinery  and  transpor- 
tation, as  well  as  money.  Those  who  hold  these  factors  of  production 
in  due  proportion  may  become  and  be  their  own  employees ;  but 
those  who  hold,  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  the  means  of  self-employ- 
ment, are  in  duty  bound  to  furnish  employment  to  those  who  are  so 
excluded. 

The  duty  of  employers  then  in  giving  employment  to  employees  is 
to  be  determined  by  how  much  greater  interest  the  former  hold  in 
the  land,  raw  material,  provisions,  machinery,  transportation,  and 
money,  than,  as  individuals,  is  their  just  proportion  of  the  common 
heritage  in  these  natural  and  social  elements  of  successful  production. 
It  matters  not,  so  far  as  this  duty  is  concerned,  through  what  pro- 
gressive measures,  laden  here  and  there  with  exaction  and  despoil- 
ment, originating,  perhaps,  in  fraud  or  force,  the  means  of  employment, 
belonging  to  the  entire  human  family,  came  into  their  hands.  The 
simple  fact  that  they  hold  them  to  the  exclusmi  of  others^  is  evidence 
of  the  despoilment,  which  underlies  the  holding  and  the  exaction  which 
is  made  possible  and  usually  follows  the  holding,  despoilment  and 
exaction,  for  which,  if  the  living  are  not  primarily  and  personally 
responsible  they  are,  the  profiting  inheritors. 

The  exact  status  in  this  regard  is  not  known  in  any  civilized  land. 
The  precise  number  of  employers  in  America  is  not  known;  but  it 
has  been  estimated  at  50,000  and  includes  those,  who  not  only  em- 
ploy themselves,  but  besides  employ  from  one  to  several  thousand 
men. 

The  possibility  of  escape  from  the  exacting  operations  of  employ- 
ers in  a  country  not  entirely  settled  and  occupied  are  large;  but  to 
elucidate  and  illustrate  this  proposition,  let  us  suppose  them  closed; 
that  the  land  and  raw  material  is  held  entirely  by  the  50,000  employ- 
ers of  the  country,  and  that  the  means  of  employment  is  equal  to  the 
self-employment  of  the  entire  number  of  laborers  ;  the  number  accord- 
ing to  census,  being  about  17,000,000  o^  active  producers ;  employers 
and  employees. 

If  50,000  persons  hold  in  their  hands  the  means  of  employment, 
which  nature  has  designed  for  the  employment  of  17,000,000  people, 
then  50,000  promoters  of  American  industry,  are  in  duty  bound  to 
furnish  adequate  employment,  with  fair  compensation  for  16,950,000 
persons;  in  other  words,  all  the  means  of  employment  being  in  their 
hand,  they  should  open  occupation  to  all. 

But  let  us  suppose  it  to  be  thus  ;  that  the  constituent  army  of  em- 


'    HOW  MANY  EMPLOYEES  SHOULD  BE  EMPLOYED.        95 

ployers  is  50,000  ;  the  whole  number  of  active  laborers,  inclusive  of  em- 
ployers, who,  as  superintendents  of  industry  are  also  laborers,  17,000,- 
000  ;  that  exclusive  of  that  part  of  the  means  of  employment,  the  em- 
ployers hold  in  their  possession  and  ownership,  enough  of  the  common 
heritage  is  still  open  to  use,  to  furnish  employment  to  5,000,000  per- 
sons. The  employers  of  the  country  having  left  to  the  use  of  those 
who  desire  to  employ  themselves  enough  land,  raw-material  and  the 
products  of  social  developement,  machinery,  transportation  and  money 
for  the  self  employment  of  5,000,000  persons,  are  relieved  from  the 
obligation  of  furnishing  employment  for  these  5,000,000  per- 
sons, but  are  in  duty  bound  to  so  conduct  the  industries  of  the  com 
munity  that  they  can  furnish  employment  to  11,950,000  persons. 

But  let  us  place  this  proposition  in  another  light.  The  productive 
population  of  the  country  is  17,000,000  persons,  embracing  both 
employers  and  employees.  If  the  latter  comprising  50,000  persons, 
hold  the  industrial  reins  over  the  balance,  owing  to  their  ownership 
a-nd  possession  of  nine  tenths  of  the  means,  whereupon  and  through 
which  successful  productive  labor  may  be  applied,  they  must  in  duty 
afford  employment  to  nine-tenths  of  the  laborers  of  the  country.  Of 
the  16,950,000  laborers  dependent  for  existence  on  employment 
from  spme  source,  15,255,000  will  look  to  the  employing  class  for 
occupation,  and  one  tenth  of  them,  or  1,695,000  will  justly  apply  their 
labor  to  the  natural  and  unappropriated  means  of  employment,  and 
thus  secure  the  subsistence  to  which,  through  labor,  they  are  entitled. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  employers  have  appropriated  in  any 
way,  by  heredity,  purchase  or  otherwise,  but  four-tenths  of  the  natural 
means  of  employment — the  sources  and  appliances  for  the  production 
of  wealth — and  the  balance  six-tenths  is  left  open  to  the  use  of  others, 
then  the  employers,  according  to  the  provisions  of  this  proposition, 
are  bound  to  find  work  for  6,780,000  persons.  The  balance  having 
free  or  equal  access  to  the  unappropriated  means  of  self-employment, 
could  hold  the  employing  class  to  no  obligation  for  occupation  and 
wages. 

These  figures  are  introduced  merely  to  elucidate  in  a  plain  but  de- 
cisive manner  the  proportional  extent  of  the  obligation  which  em- 
ployers owe  to  the  unemployed  of  their  respective  communities  :  the 
equity  of  the  demand  on  employers,  being  based  on  the  fact  that 
as  employers  they  have  taken  from  others,  through  current  methods, 
the  natural  means  of  employment,  land,  raw  material,  provisions 
and  the  social  means  of  production, — tools,  implements,  machinery, 
transportation  and  money — to  some  amount  over  and  above  what 
self-employment  alone  would  necessitate  ;  that  that  over-amount, 
whether  it  be  large  or  small,  is  necessarily  taken  from  others  who 
have,  in  the  said  raw  material  and  the  social  means  of  productive  ef- 
fort, also  a  right  to  apply  their  own  labor  for  their  own    sustenance 


96  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

where  it  can  be  made  reasonably  effective  and  productive.  Denial 
of  these  obligations  and  refusal  to  act  thereon  has  resulted  in  far-reach- 
ing and  wide-spread  poverty  and  misery.  Denial  of  employment 
seems  proper  and  reasonable  only  because  employers  know  but  little 
of  the  rationale  and  less  of  the  equities  which  attach  to  the  responsi- 
ble position  which,  in  every  nation,  they  have  assumed  to  occupy. 
Men  in  the  most  civilized  communities  have  denied  the  simplest  dic- 
tates of  natural  justice  and  natural  law,  and  may  possibly  continue 
to  do  so,  until  justice  in  its  own  way,  and  good  time  comes  to  judg- 
ment and  awards  to  each  and  every  man  his  inalienable  interests  in 
the  means  of  employment,  in  sources  of  the  world's  wealth,  or  in  the 
wealth  brought  to  the  finish  and  perfection  of  use  through  labor.  A 
clear  and  enlarged  view  of  the  scope  of  these  functions  as  the  domi- 
native  element  of  industrial  life,  and  of  their  obligations  to  the  nation 
which  gives  them  patronage  and  support,  should  be  acquired  by  the 
employers  of  every  land. 

It  is  one  avenue  out  of  the  industrtal  disturbances  of  the  times  ; 
and  the  only  one  compatible  with  the  preservation  of  private  enter- 
prise on  one  hand,  and  the  establishment  of  industrial  justice  on  the 
other. 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    THE    MEANS    OF    EMPLOYMENT.  97 

DUTY  OF  RESTITUTION. 
CHAPTER  v.,  SECTION  V. 

Ic  is  in  evidence  through  accessible  statistics  that  the  sources  oY 
wealth  and  appliances  of  production,  or  what  is  tantamount,  the  means 
and  avenues  for  employment,  individual  or  social,  are  held  by  a 
small  portion  of  the  population,  occupying  the  territory  of  every 
civilized  nation. 

As  respects  the  several  nations  which  fall  under  this  designation,  it 
is  but  a  simple  matter  of  varying  proportion;  of  entire  or  fractional 
appropriation.  In  America  the  means  of  employment  are  as  yet  but 
partially  seggregated.  The  best  portions,  the  points  of  vantage  which 
dominate  and  probably  will  continue  to  dominate  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests  are  gone;  but  much  outlying  land  in  tributary 
districts  is  yet  accessible  to  those  who  would  afford  themselves  self- 
employment  and  thereby  escape  the  exactions  of  employers.  In 
France  the  means  of  employment  are  fully  absorbed  ;  but  the  lands 
were  distributed  under  the  first  Napoleon,  placing  some  7,000,000 
people  with  direct  access  to  the  earth,  and  in  close  contact  with  the 
other  means  and  appliances  of  self-employment.  In  England  and  por- 
tions of  Europe  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  means  of  employ- 
ment have  been  acquired  by  the  class  of  employers, — agricult- 
uralists, manufacturers  and  merchants, — and  concentrated  into  re- 
markably few  hands. 

What  the  exact  ratio,  in  these  countries,  which  the  number  of  em- 
ployers bear  to  the  number  of  employees  and  the  ratio  of  means  of 
ployment  appropriated  by  the  former,  and  the  quantity  of  means 
left  to  the  latter  unappropriated,  can  be  definitely  determined 
only  by  a  collection  and  arrangement  of  facts  not  easily  accessible; 
but  it  is  clear  that  the  former  hold  in  their  hands  the  power  to  afford 
the  latter,  through  wages,  ample  means  of  comfortable  life ;  Malthus, 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding  ;  freedom  from  conditions  of  abject 
and  degrading  poverty,  it  is  clear  that  the  latter,  debarred  from  the 
means  of  self-employment,  are  as  completely  dependent  upon  the 
former  for  food,  clothing  and  shelter,  as  was  the  chattel  slave  upon 
his  owner,  or  the  hound  upon  his  master. 

Under  these  conditions  what  shall  be  done  by  the  party  in  power — 
the  small  class  of  employers  ?  What  is  their  duty  to  the  large  masses 
unnaturally,  immoderately  and  unjustly  dependent  upon  them  for 
the  means  of  existence? 

They  must  take  one  of  three  courses  ;  adopt  one  of  three  methods 
to  discharge  the  imperative  duty  which  rests  upon  them.     First,  they 


98  WEALTH   AND    POVERTY   OF   NATIONS. 

must  feed,  clothe  and  shelter  those  out  of  employment  and  im- 
poverished and  suffering  from  that  cause.  Second,  if  they  do  not 
willingly  and  cheerfully  put  out  the  means  to  support  without  labor 
as  one  supports  his  horse  or  hound,  those  deprived  of  sustenance,  be- 
cause excluded  from  the  sources  of  wealth,  the  duty  rests  with  them 
to  furnish  ample  employment  with  adequate  wages  through  which  the 
employee  may  provide  for  his  own  want.  Third,  if  they  perform  one 
or  both  of  these  debts  with  hesitation,  reluctance,  or  but  partially,  it 
becomes  their  duty  to  re-deliver  into  the  hands  of  society  the  entire 
sources  of  national  wealth  and  means  of  national  employment  for 
such  subsequent  disposition,  in  the  interest  of  each  individual,  as 
may  then  be  deemed  adequate  to  secure  the  end  sought ;  viz.,  the 
physical  and  intellectual  comfort  and  prosperity  of  every  citizen. 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind,  as  claimed  at  the  commencement  of  this 
and  the  preceding  chapter,  that  three  parties  exist,  interested  in  the 
acquirement  of  rights,  and  in  the  performance  of  duties.  First,  the 
beneficent  intelligent  forces  or  the  creative  God-element.  Second, 
society,  with  its  varied  phases  of  organization  from  the  most  primitive 
to  the  most  complex.  Third,  the  individual,  with  different  degrees  of 
perfection  which  mark  his  origin  and  development. 

The  primitive  purpose  inheres  in  the  creative  element ;  creation  hav- 
ing been  effected  for  the  equal  benefit  of  every  member  of  the  hu- 
man family. 

But  these  beneficent,  intelligent  forces,  this  creative  agency,  oper- 
ating only  through  organized  matter,  of  necessity  makes  organized 
society  the  agent  of  its  purposes.  Society  is  destined  to  exercise 
paramount  control  over  the  development  and  destiny  of  the  individ- 
ual ;  but,  under  principles  which  it  does  not  originate,  it  is  to  be  gov- 
erned by  a  Power  higher  than  itself,  in  those  operations  which  it  un- 
dertakes towards  its  own  advancement,  and  the  prosperity  and  per- 
fection of  the  individual.  Society  is  the  visible  agent  of  an  adminis- 
tration of  even-handed  justice,  and  the  maintainance  of  proportional 
equality;  an  agency  which  it  cannot  escape,  and  which  it  cannot 
perform  with  partiality  without  bringing  injury  or  destruction  to  itself. 

To  this  society,  moving  forward  from  age  to  age,  along  the  line  of 
a  true  progress  that  it  may  have  renewed  opportunity  for  each  gener- 
ation to  adjust  the  relations  of  individuals  to  each  other  and  modify 
the  asperities  of  class  attritions,  must  the  employing  classes,  having 
failed  in  the  just  performance  of  their  trusts,  yield  the  sources  of 
wealth  and  means  of  employment. 

This  may  seem  a  bold  and  unwarranted  proposition  ;  and  yet  what 
other  course  can  be  taken  with  a  dominating  class,  controling  the 
governmental  machinery  of  organized  society,  and  handling  the 
means  of  employment,  originally  destined  to  afford  occupation  and 
sustenance   to   all,    for   their   own  narrow  and  selfish  ends  ?     What 


SELF    ABNEGATION    OF   JAPANESE    PRINCES.  99 

can  be  done  with  such  a  class,  and  for  the  entire  community,  except 
to  point  out  the  duty  which,  from  the  responsible  position  occupied 
by  them,  and  which  themselves,  as  the  prior  and  primitively  devel- 
oped units  of  society  have  assumed,  they  owe  to  every  individual, 
and  demand  in  the  name  of  justice  that  the  duty,  so  assumed,  be 
rigidly  and  fully  performed  ?  and  what  next  is  to  be  done  in  case  the 
duty  so  pointed  out  is  ignored  and  neglected,  but  to  demand  that  they 
yield  to  the  proper  authorities  which  represent  organized  society, — 
viz.  the  government — the  trust  w^hich  they  have  been  permitted  to 
administer,  and  which  they  have  failed  to  maintain  with  careful  and 
scrupulous  regard  to  the  material  interests  of  all  concerned.  What 
other  step  in  the  name  of  the  beneficent  intelligent  forces,  of  justice, 
of  the  responsible  Creator  of  men  and  things,  can  be  taken  to  estab- 
lish and  ensure  permanently  prosperous  conditions,  in  the  midst 
of  which  manhood  development  may  reach  its  most  luxuriant,  fullest 
and  maturest  growths  ?  If  any  man  will  show  what  other  fair,  honor- 
able or  just  course  can  be  taken,  then  he  is  reasonably  entitled  to 
oppose  and  overthrow  the  proposition  here  advanced ;  a  proposi- 
tion which  has  been  reached  without  undue  haste,  or  prejudice  for 
or  against  the  supposed  interests  of  either  of  the  parties,  employers 
and  employees,  especially  involved. 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  will  those  who  have  so  long  held  posses- 
sion and  control  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  means  of  employment, 
yield  them  without  resistance  ?  It  is  not  here  intended  to  determine 
whether  they  will  or  will  not  respond  to  this  last  and  extreme  call  of 
duty.  It  is  intended  mainly  to  point  out  the  duty  of  the  individ- 
ual, of  different  classes  of  society,  and  of  society  itself  to  its  constitu- 
ent element,  each  to  the  other  and  all  to  each. 

What  may  be  done  by  the  controlling  and  managing  elements  of 
industrial  life,  those  who  profit  and  prosper  upon  the  common  her- 
itage, and  the  labor  of  their  fellows,  is  instanced  by  what  was  done 
some  years  since  by  the  dominant  and  hereditary  classes  of  the  Em- 
pire of  Japan. 

A  movement  which  was  inaugurated  in  that  country  in  1868  is  thus 
described  :* 

The  commander  in  chief  of  the  men  at  arms,  known  as  the  Shiogoon,  which 
has  been  corrupted  into  Tycoon  by  foreigners,  was  the  right  arm  of  the  Emperor 
in  governing  the  country^  At  first  he  was  a  person  who  had  distinguished 
himself  for  ability,  and  he  only  carried  out  the  orders  of  his  superiors.  Grad- 
ually these  military  chiefs  assumed  more  and  more  authority,  till  they  became  the 
real  power,  and  the  Emperors  only  the  shadow  of  power.  There  was  never  any 
repudiation  of  the  authority  of  the  Emperors,  but  they  were  so  surrounded  with 
the  creatures  of  the  Tycoon  that  they  were  helpless.  The  chief  military  office 
at  last  became  hereditary  in  the   family  of  the  Tycoon.      There    were  several  of 

*This  extract  was  written  by  H.  Latham,  for  eight  years  Secretary  of  the  American  Legation  in. 
Japan,  and  published  in  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle,  Oct.  24, 1886. 


lOO  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

the  great  feudal  families  that  held  this  position.  As  a  matter  of  policy  they 
established  their  courts  and  capitals  at  some  point  remote  from  the  Emperor's 
capital.  Under  one  of  these  families  the  Tycoonate  was  established  at  Osaka, 
under  another  at  Kamakura,  and  under  the  tast  of  these  families  at  Yeddo,  now 
Tokio.  These  conditions  of  government  existed  down  to  1868,  when  several  of 
the  most  powerful  of  the  feudal  princes  rose  against  the  Tycoon  and  a  civil  war 
was  waged.  To  stop  this  and  pacify  the  princes,  the  Tycoon  was  deposed  and 
the  Emperor  resumed  the  reins  of  government,  and  then  occurred  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  revolutions  of  history.  These  feudal  princes,  numbering  two  hundred 
and  sixty,  having  control  of  all  the  lands  and  revenues  of  the  empire,  with  the 
exception  of  the  five  central  provinces,  at  the  head  of  one  million  men  at  arms, 
intrenched  at  two  hundred  and  sixty  fortified  castles,  voluntarily  resigned  their 
J)ower  and  property  and  retired  to  private  life. 

THE  NEW  ORDER  OF  THINGS. 

This  was  followed  by  a  complete  reorganization  of  government  and  society. 
The  Emperor  suscribed  to  an  oath  of  office,  which  was  in  fact  a  constitution. 
Departments  corresponding  to  those  of  our  Federal  Government  were  established. 
Governors  of  provinces  were  appointed,  new  codes  were  formulated  in  which 
slavery  and  imprisonment  for  debt  were  abolished,  and  cruel  punishments  were 
prohibited.  Courts  were  established  which  guarded  the  rights  of  all  and  to 
which  the  poorest  person  could  go  without  cost.  Liberal  exemption  laws  were 
made,  whereby  the  homes,  household  furniture,  clothing,  tools,  implements,  books 
of  trades  and  professions,  were  exempted  from  seizure  by  judgment  creditors.  The 
land  which  had  always  been  held  and  worked  under  lease  was  given  in  fee  simple 
to  the  farmers.  The  discriminating  class  system  was  abolished,  and  all  persons 
made  equal  before  the  law.  The  1,000,000  men  at  arms  took  their  families,  in 
all  5--ooo,ooo,  were  pensioned,  and  their  pensions  capitalized  and  bonds  issued, 
the  interest  on  which  is  only  $12,000,000  annually.  By  this  means  alone  the 
people  were  relieved  of  a  burden  of  $200,000,000  per  year.  These  5,000,000 
costly  consumers  were,  the  majority  of  them,  made  producers  and  self-supporting. 
Schools  were  established  in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  railroads  were  built,  telegraph 
lines  were  constructed,  an  army  and  navy  with  military  and  naval  schools  were 
organized,  ship  yards  and  docks  were  built,  a  steam  merchant  marine  put  on  the 
seas  and  a  powerful  public  press  was  established. 

A  PEACEFUL    REVOLUTION. 

Never  before  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  has  there  been  such  a  complete 
revolution,  so  completely  and  rapidly  made.  All  these  changes  were  supported 
by  public  sentiment,  and  were  justified  by  the  beneficent  results  they  bore.  A 
national  Assembly  is  promised  the  people  in  1890,  and  as  paving  the  way  from 
an  absolute  and  irresponsible  monarchy  to  a  limited  and  constitutional  one,  in 
1878  local  elective  and  representative  provincial  assemblies  were  established. 
These  assemblies  correspond  to  our  State  Legislatures.  _  They  have  control  of  all 
provincial  matters,  taxation,  roads,  canals,  dykes,  schools  and  hospitals.  All 
male  citizens  21  years  of  age,  and  paying  $10  land  or  other  real  estate  tax,  are 
qualified  electors.  These  local  assemblies  have  now  been  working  harmoniously 
for  eight  years.  There  is  no  record  of  any  other  elective  and  representative 
bodies  in  Asia,  where  the  human  race  was  cradled,  and  where  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  world's  population  dwells.  This  representative  movement  may  spread 
and  be  the  means  of  liberating  800,000,000  people  from  foreign  and  home  op- 
pression. 

What  the  dominant  classes  of  Japan  have  done  in  the  interests  of 
of  their  dependent  millions,  the  dominant  industrial  classes  of  every 


EMULATION    OF    JAPANESE    PRINCES    REQUIRED.  lOI 

nation  can  do  to  better  the  material  condition  of  their  dependents. 

The  precise  cause  which  led  to  the  action  of  the  feudal  princes 
of  Japan  is  not  specified,  nor  is  it  stated  what  motive  inspired  the 
subsequent  active  and  radical  changes  which  were  undertaken  by  or- 
ganized society  under  the  auspices  of  the  emperor;  but  it  is  a  fact 
well-known  the  wide  world  over,  that  no  nation,  ancient  or  modern 
occidental  or  oriental,  has  strided  on  so  rapidly  in  all  phases  of 
material  development  as  did  Japan  after  the  rebellion  of  the  feudal 
princes,  and  the  resignation  of  their  rights  in  the  lands  and  revenues 
of  their  several  provinces.  Judging  from  the  measures  specified  in  this 
graphic  statement,  Japan  is  likely  to  develop  occasion  for  a  new  ad- 
justment of  industrial  affairs  within  another  century  ;  but  if  its  lead- 
ing classes  act  then  with  the  unselfish  resignation  evinced  by  those  who 
have  recently  turned  over  to  the  organized  society  of  that  empire 
their  acquired  rights,  no  serious  strain  between  the  favored  and 
dependent  classes  of  the  future  need  be  apprehended. 

It  is  the  tenacity  of  those  who  have  acquired  rights  through 
heredity  or  purchase — the  latter  pregnant  of  seeming  but  delusive 
equity — which  leads  to  the  strain  and  ultimate  violence  and  bloodshed, 
which  a  conflict  for  real  right  on  the  one  hand,  and  supposed  right  on 
the  other  engenders ;  it  is  the  unyielding  permanence  of  investiture 
against  which  the  progressive  forces  are  continually  embattling. 
The  example  of  the  Japanese  Princes,  standing  as  they  were  with 
their  hereditary  and  purchased  rights  against  the  pressure  of  advanc- 
ing civilization,  is  worthy  of  emulation  with  the  employing,  wealthy 
and  aristrocratic  classes  of  that  galaxy  of  nations  moving  forward 
through  an  active  development  under  the  inspiriting  forces  of  the 
western  civilization. 

But  what  will  society  do  with,  how  will  it  readjust  to  the  growing 
wants  of  the  age,  the  sources  of  wealth  and  means  of  employment, 
which  may  be  replaced  in  its  hands  for  new  assignment? 

Two  general  propositions  are  open  for  consideration  and  action ; 
propositions  through  either  of  which  the  natural  rights  of  every  unit 
of  the  social  organization  shall  have  assigned  to  him  his  proportionate 
interest  in  the  common  heritage  and  the  entire  results  of  his  own  labor, 
applied  thereto.  First,  an  assignment,  as  equitable  and  prompt  as 
circumstances  will  admit,  to  each  person,  of  his  portion  of  the  com- 
mon heritage — of  the  means  of  employment — which  he  may  manage 
according  to  his  own  intelligence  and  capacity,  either  alone  or  in  co- 
operation with  others,  for  the  supply  of  his  own  wants,  the  increased 
effectiveness  of  his  own  efforts,  and  the  development  of  his  own  indi- 
viduality. 

Second,  a  national  or  co-operative  management  of  the  sources  of 
wealth  and  means  of  employment,  affording  to  every  unit  of  the  social 
whole,  a  proportionate  amount  of  employment  and  a  correspondent 


102  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

proportion  of  the  commodities  produced  by  the  aggregate  labor.  The 
duty  of  society  in  making  readjustments  will  turn  of  necessity  to  the 
establishment  either  of  an  equitable  individualism,  leaving  every  man 
with  the  means  of  successful  steady  employment  in  his  hand,  and 
making  him  entirely  and  absolutely  responsible  for  his  own  prosperity; 
or  of  an  equally  equitable  industrial  socialism,  affording  occupation 
to  all,  and  distributing  to  each  according  to  his  interest  in  the  com- 
mon heritage,  and  the  quantity  of  labor  bestowed  on  the  aggregate 
wealth,  his  equal  proportion  of  the  general  mass  of  productive  results. 
A  pure  industrial  individualism  involves  an  equal  distribution  of  the 
sources  of  wealth  and  means  of  employment  to  every  person ;  a  pure 
industrial  socialism  demands  that  society  shall  find  employment  for 
every  unit  of  the  common  integer,  and  distribute  the  wealth  produced, 
proportionately  with  his  labor,  to  every  individual. 

Justice  may  be  achieved,  and  the  duty  ot  society  to  the  individual 
be  fully  discharged  through  either  of  these  channels  of  industrial  oper- 
ation. Which  of  these  should  be  followed  is  therefore  to 
be  determined  by  an  answer  to  the  question,  which  is  the  most 
practicable  and  feasible  ?  That  course  which  can  be  most  easily  and 
effectively  pursued  in  conjunction  with  the  creative  and  providing 
forces,  and  which  will  result  most  favorably  upon  the  evolution  of 
humanity  as  a  totality,  will  be  determined  by  following  those  lines  of 
duty  and  instincts  of  love,  which,  arising  in  the  creative  agency, 
pass  through  society  to  the  individual,  and  from  the  individual,  back- 
wards to  the  infinite  source  of  all  value. 

The  present  civilization  in  its  forward  movement,  has  reached  a 
point  where,  in  the  interests  of  justice,  peace,  and  freedom,  new  and 
progressive  adjustments  are  imperative.  Freedom  must  be  given  a 
wider  scope  than  that  which  pertains  merely  to  the  movements  of  the 
person.  It  is  not  enough  that  men  should  be  absolved  from  enforced 
personal  servitude.  It  is  in  a  manner,  and  approximately,  useless 
freedom,  which  takes  the  chain  from  my  mind  and  my  muscle,  and 
binds  me  to  the  enforced  service  of  another  through  conditions 
which  exclude  me  from  the  sources  of  self-sustenance. 

The  very  conditions  of  my  existence  demand  that  I  shall 
have  some  things  which  may  be  properly  called  my  own,  and 
which  I  may  adapt  to  the  necessary  uses  and  specialties  of  my  own 
life — that  I  should  have  such  reasonable  abundance  as  my  own  labor 
will  create  and  my  portion  of  the  common  heritage  will  supply  to 
me.  It  demands  also  that  other  units  of  society  shall  not  suff"er 
from  the  prostrating  congestions  of  superabundance.  No  organized 
body  can  long  stand  the  strain  of  excessive  congestions  without 
rupture  and  dissolution;  nor  can  organized  society  continue  to  exist 
under  the  increasing  accumulations  of  nutritive  wealth  in  its  brain 
without  approaching  the  verge  of  a  critical  overflow.     There  must 


THE    PRESENT   CIVILIZATION   NEARING   A   CRISIS.  I03 

be  more  freedom  everywhere ;  from  an  over  supply  of  stowaway, 
useless  wealth  on  one  hand,  and  freedom  on  the  other  hand,  from 
the  prostituting  and  disabling  influences  of  poverty. 


I04  WEALTH   AND    POVERTY   OF   NATIONS. 

NATIONAL  WEALTH  AND  POVERTY. 
CHAPTER  VI.,  SECTION  I. 

The  writings  of  Adam  Smith  through  their  clearness  and  vigor 
made  a  lasting  impress  on  the  economic  thought  of  the  world.  Noth- 
ing reflects  so  thoroughly  upon  the  want  of  discrimination  exercised 
by  those  who  have  followed  him  and  given  unquestioned  adherence 
to  his  teachings,  as  this  permanent  impress.  As  regards  this  servi- 
tude of  the  current  thought  of  the  times,  two  topics  require  a  brief 
and  especial  consideration. 

As  evinced  by  the  propositions  announced  in  his  famous  work 
entitled  "  The  Wealth  of  Nations,"  two  prominent  thoughts  in- 
spired-the  effort  of  Adam  Smith;  viz.,  first,  that  the  desire  for  ex- 
change led  to  the  division  of  labor;  and  second,  that  the  division  of  la- 
bor constituted  the  active  and  effective  agency  of  the  wealth  of 
nations. 

The  difficulty  of  dealing  with  these  propositions  consists  in  the  fact 
that  the  first  is  pregnant  with  seeming  truth,  and  the  second  embodies 
but  a  small  and  indefinite  part  of  the  truth  it  was  designed  to  express. 
It  is  an  impossible  proposition  and  one  contrary  to  the  order  of 
nature,  to  affirm  that  men  were  impelled  to  a  division  of  labor  promp- 
ted by  the  desire  to  exchange.  The  first  impulse  of  a  man  is  to  do 
something,  and  always  that  which  best  suits  his  tastes  and  adaptabil- 
ities, provided  that  what  he  does,  will,  according  to  his  judg- 
ment or  intuitions,  tend  to  gratify  his  desire  or  supply  his  want.  A 
man  must  have  arrived  at  a  condition  of  rationality  requiring  time 
and  experience  before  he  is  likely  to  consider  the  advantages  and  de- 
sirability of  exchange.  Intuitively  he  first  produces,  and  subsequently 
exchanges.  This  position  is  furthermore,  more  than  proved  by  a 
general  fact  which  is  easily  recognized  by  actual  perception,  viz., 
that  while  at  this  moment  the  processes  and  modes  of  production 
have  arrived  at  a  point  of  perfection  scarcely  to  be  excelled,  that  of 
distribution  or  exchange,  on  any  just  or  equitable  basis,  is  but  in  its 
infancy. 

Adam  Smith  in  the  statement  of  this  proposition,  overlooked  en- 
tirely the  order  of  nature.  Instead  of  placing  human  and  creative 
effort  at  the  bottom  of  his  economic  superstructure,  he  placed  ex- 
change in  its  stead.  The  result  today  is,  that  the  science  to  which  he 
in  other  ways  gave  form  and  consistency,  rests  on  an  unsubstantial  ba- 
sis ;  rests  as  it  were,  not  upon  its  feet,  but  upon  its  head. 

Exchange  was  assumed  as  the  origin  of  that  effective  production 
which  tended  then,  and  now  in  its  proper  place  tends,  to  the  develop- 


THE    DIVISION    OF    LABOR    AND    COMPETITION.  I05 

ment  of  national  wealth ;  whereas,  exchange  is  but  the  last  of  a  series 
of  industrial  processes  which  originated  in  the  active  and  passive  forces, 
operating  upon  the  seed,  egg  and  mineral  monad,  and  passed  upward 
through  agriculture  and  manufacture  to  the  world's  commercial 
transactions.     It  is  the  last  and  not  the  beginning  of  a  series. 

It  is  evident  from  a  close  examination  of  the  facts,  that  the  division 
of  labor  did  not  originate  in  the  desire  to  exchange,  but  in  the  natu- 
ral inherent  disposition  of  each  man  to  select  some  form  of  occupa- 
tion most  harmonious  with  his  inclination  and  most  conducive  to  the 
supply  of  his  wants  with  the  least  expenditure  of  his  effort ;  that  ex- 
change followed  as  an  absolute  necessity  from  the  fact  that  selection 
and  prosecution  of  a  single  congenial  occupation  by  one  person 
could  supply  but  a  small  portion  of  the  varied  wants  of  the  per- 
son. After  perfecting  his  own  productions  he  possessed  a  basis  for 
exchange  not  before  existing. 

But  the  second  proposition,  viz.,  that  the  division  of  labor  has  led  to 
the  productive  energy  which  has  resulted  in  national  wealth  has 
encouraged  a  widespread  misconception  of  the  nature  and  charac- 
teristics of  what  is  termed  the  present  or  competitive  system  of  in- 
dustry. 

The  idea  connected  with  the  division  of  labor  is  that  of  individual 
effort,  as  distinct  in  purpose  as  it  is  possible  to  be  made.  It  is  ex- 
pressed, as  it  is  commonly  understood,  in  another  form  by  the  term 
industrial  individualism  and  involves  in  current  thought  the  principle 
of  competition.  The  current  conception  involves  the  laborer  in  an 
isolated  productive  individuality,  contrary  to  the  real  truth.  It  in- 
volves also  in  the  common  consciousness  the  idea  that  one  man  is 
continually  pitted  industrially  against  another  and  plies  his  powers 
toward  a  separate  phase  of  production  in  which  himself  personally 
is  directly  interested  and  in  which  the  next  man  possesses  no  inter- 
est whatever.  Out  of  these  forces  and  conditions  has  grown  the  com- 
mon idea  of  competitive  industry:  a  thorough  and  unquestioned  be- 
lief that  the  world's  productions  are  brought  into  being  and  matured 
to  the  point  of  commodity  and  use  through  the  industrial  contention 
of  one  man  against  another  ;  of  one  class  of  men  and  interests 
against  other  classes  of  men  and  interests. 

This  thought  has  taken  full  possession  of  and  is  claimed  to  under- 
lie the  rationality  of  economic  science.  The  most  noted  writers, 
among  them  JohnS.  Mill  and  Prof.  Uevons, maintain  that  the  correct- 
ness of  their  theories  and  the  deductions  derived  therefrom  are  con- 
sistent, only  with  the  universal  and  continued  activity  of  the  princi- 
ple of  competition. 

The  problem  to  be  solved  is  whether  this  widely  accepted  belief  is 
true  or  untrue  ;  if  true,  whether  true  in  total,  or  in  part ;  if  true  in 
part,  what  is  true  and  what  part  is  untrue. 


I06  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

It  is  evident  to  common  observation  that  competition  is  a  pre- 
vailing element  of  industrial  life.  W  e  do  find  men  struggling  like 
Titans  in  all  portions  of  the  civilized  world  and  in  many  phases  of 
effort ;  we  find  one  man  striving  to  excel  every  other  man  in  his  line 
of  industry  and  feeling  that  he  is  pitting,  as  to  his  productive  efforts, 
his  best  powers  against  the  best  powers  of  others  :  that  the  struggle 
which  centres  about  rapidity  of  work,  quality  of  design  and  execu- 
tion and  cheapness  of  commodities  brought  into  exchange,  is 
prompted  by  productive  effort. 

So  patent  are  the  facts  in  all  portions  of  the  civilized  globe,  in  sup- 
port of  the  proposition  that  a  struggle  which  heats  and  colors  and 
characterizes  the  phases  of  industrial  life  is  in  continued  existence, 
that  it  cannot  be  denied.  But  what  is  all  this  competitive  effort 
about  ?  What  is  its  objective  point  ?  Are  men  in  fierce  competition 
with  each  other  over  the  process  of  production  ?  Does  the  division 
of  labor  set  men  against  each  other  productively  and  result  in  giving 
growth  to  the  element  of  competition  which  everywhere  impresses  it- 
self upon  the  observant  thought?     It  does  not. 

Here  is  where  lies  a  mistake  of  economic  thought.  The  real 
truth  of  this  matter,  a  truth  which  has  been  either  concealed  or 
touched  but  lightly,  is  that  the  division  of  labor  leads  not  to  competi- 
tion but  to  co-operative  production.  The  employment  of  several  men 
upon  the  production  of  a  given  commodity,  differentiates  or  divides 
the  labor,  but  combines  the  men  into  a  co-operative  community  just 
so  long  as  they  are  engaged  in  the  specified  enterprise.  Nor  in  this 
regard  does  i;  matter  if  the  labor  be  performed  at  the  same  time  and 
place  or  not.  The  construction  of  a  pin  involves  from  first  to  last  a 
large  number  of  manipulations,  each  manipulation  requiring  the 
labor  of  one  man.  If  one  man  performs  the  labor  of  each  manipu- 
lation in  a  succession  of  intervals  and  completes  the  pin  from  head 
to  point,  there  is  no  division  of  labor,  and  there  is  no  co-operative 
production.  Competitive  production  is  possible  only  when  the  labor 
is  undivided;  when  it  is  performed  by  one  person.  Just  so  soon  as 
two  men  are  engaged  in  the  construction  of  a  given  article,  whether 
they  work  together  or  not,  just  so  soon  competitive  production  ceases 
and  co-operative  production  begins. 

A  pair  of  shoes  from  the  time  the  raw  material  reaches  the  factory 
to  the  moment  it  passes  into  the  hands  of  the  wholesale  merchants 
passes  through  the  hands  of  twenty-five  operatives.  When,  in  the 
good  old  time  gone  by,  a  single  shoemaker  with  his  kit  of  tools  took 
the  leather,  and  turned  out  a  pair  of  boots,  he  was  engaged  so  far  as 
himself  was  concerned  in  individual  competitive  production  ;  but  the 
twenty  five  men,  who  now  operate  in  producing  a  similar  pair  of 
boots,  are  bound  together  by  raw  material  of  the  commodity,  into 
joint,  co-operative  or  social  production. 


COMPETITION    RELATED   TO    DISTRIBUTEON — ITS    ORIGIN.      ^    I07 

This  rational  proposition  is  easily  illustrated  by  an  abundant  array 
of  siriiilar  facts  to  be  gathered  from  any  source  where  enterprise  is*  in 
active  progress.  In  the  construction  and  operation  of  thousands  of 
miles  of  railway,  the  graders,  track-layers,  locomotive,  manufacturers, 
conductors,  brakesmen,  surveyors,  financiers  or  promotors  are  en- 
gaged in  co-operative  production.  This  is  true,  whether  all  are  en- 
gaged in  labor  at  one  or  a  hundred  different  places  or  occasions. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  convince  one's  self  that  the  vast  bulk  of  pro- 
duction effected  through  the  impress  of  human  labor,  is  carried  for- 
ward throughout  the  civilized  world,  not  under  the  principle  of  com- 
petiton,  but  under  the  governing  force  of  co-operation. 

It  will  then  be  inquired,  where,  if  not  in  the  process  of  production, 
is  the  competition  everywhere  so  palpable  to  perception  to  be  found? 
Where  does  it  originate  ?  What  is  this  struggle  which  is  testing  ^the 
powers  of  humanity  to  their  utmost,  bringing  wealth  to  a  few,  moder- 
ate means  and  poverty  to  others  all  about  .^  Around  what  motive 
does  it  center  and  spend  its  force  ? 

The  true  answer  is  that  it  is  connected  entirely  and  exclusively 
with  the  distribution  and  consumption  of  wealth  and  not  its  produc- 
t  on.  As  concerns  the  process  of  production,  general  activity,  with 
peace  and  harmony  prevails,  but  the  struggle,  contention,  competi- 
tion of  industrial  life,  begins  at  the  point  where  the  results  of  pro- 
duction are  to  be  segregated  and  assigned. 

What  has  been  inaptly  termed  the  competitive  system  of  industry, 
more  accurately  proletarianism, — has  gradually  arisen  throughout  the 
world  on  the  equally  gradual  disappearance  of  chattel  slavery.  To  the 
present  time  the  industrial  life  of  the  world  may  be  aptly  divided 
into  three  successive  periods ;  neither  type  in  its  purity  prevailing  ex- 
clusively at  one  time,  but  each  overlapping  and  commingling  with  the 
other  in  varying  proportion  and  changing  degree ;  the  first  passing 
to  the  second  and  the  second  to  the  third  by  easy  and  in  some  in- 
stances almost  imperceptible  gradations.  The  first  period  is  that  of 
patriarchal  slavery  ;  the  second  that  of  chattel  slavery,  and  the  third, 
that  which  is  now  generally  prevailing,  proletarianism  or  what  is 
known  as  the  wage  and  too  often  denominated  the  competitive  sys- 
tem. During  those  periods  when  both  forms  of  slavery,  patriarchal 
and  chattel,  prevailed,  no  dispute  or  contention  existed  regarding 
commodities  produced  then  as  now  by  co-operative  labor.  The  pa- 
triarch in  one  case  and  the  master  or  owner  in  the  other,  took  the  en- 
tire product  without  protest,  and  fulfilled  his  duties  to  then  existing 
society,  by  caring  and  providing  for  the  slaves  who  labored  under  his 
management. 

The  interest  of  both  were  best  subserved  by  this  course.  One  form 
of  property  in  commodity  was  applied  to  the  existence  and  protection 
of  the  other  form  of  property  in  slaves,   whose  comfort  and   health 


Io8  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

were  needful  to  the  master  to  carry  forward  further  production. 

But  as  chattel  slavery  gradually  disappeared,  as  the  slave  was  liber 
ated  from  the  direct  dictation  of  the  master,  he  came,through  a  change 
of  circumstances,  under  indirect  control  and  disposal.  Manu- 
mission relieved  the  master  from  all  obligations  and  the  former  slave 
from  the  right  to  subsistence,  which  before  had  been  his.  Each  was 
personally  free  to  do  as  he  liked  ;  but  the  master  retained  ownership 
of  all  he  previously  owned ;  which  included  the  land,  raw  material  on 
which  slaves  labored  and  wrought,  provisions  which  alone  sus- 
tained their  existence  and  implements  and  machinery  by  which  la- 
bor had  been  made  more  effective,  while  the  slaves  went  out  stiipped 
of  the  entire  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  social  means  of  self  em- 
ployment and  sustenance. 

In  this  condition  the  master  could,  if  he  chose,  live  by  his  own  la- 
bor, while  the  slave  was  deprived  of  all  the  opportunities  and  facil- 
ities of  labor  ;  hence  of  livlihood.  But  the  master,  indisposed  to  do 
the  labor,  formerly  performed  by  the  quondam  slav  e,  and  attracted  by 
the  profits  of  commerce,  found  it,  not  necessary  to  his  own  existence, 
but  convenient  and  profitable  to  afford  the  former  slave  employment 
as  a  free  laborer  on  and  through  the  only  means  of  employment  ac- 
cessible to  the  latter,  and  from  which  he  had  been  excluded  by  the 
accepted  terms  of  his  manumission,  and  he  was  so  employed. 

Hence,  following  the  order  of  nature  and  the  history  of  productive 
labor,  commenced  that  system  of  industrial  contracts  which  binds  the 
world  into  co-operative  production  ;  but,  wherein  the  contracting  parties, 
contrary  to  the  commonly  accepted  and  promulgated  belief,  stand  on 
extremely  unequal  ground.  The  former  master,  now  the  employer, 
being  in  posession  of  all  the  materials  of  production,  and  being  able 
to  apply  his  own  labor  in  self-support,  or  to  live  in  primitive  style 
from  nature's  own  products,  is  prompted  to  his  contracts  by  no  per- 
sonal necessity,  while  the  former  slave — now  an  employee — being 
driven  from  the  sources  of  his  existence  by  ownerships  of  the  employer, 
is  forced  through  the  imperative  necessity  of  his  own  existence,  to 
accept  any  contract  offered. 

The  contract  of  the  employer  under  these  conditions,  is  voluntarily 
made,  while  the  contract  of  the  employee  is  involuntary  and  lacks  the 
essential  of  an  equitable  and  binding  contract,  viz,  consent.  A  fair 
statement  of  the  equity  of  all  contracts  between  employers  and  employ- 
ees is,that  voluntary  action  or  real  consent  is  possible,  and  usually  act- 
ive and  efficient  on  one  side,  and  impossible  and  usually  absent  on 
the  other.  At  this  point  is  to  be  found  the  pith  and  marrow  of  the 
universal  absence  of  justice,  which  attaches  to  the  distribution 
of  wealth.     At  this  point  the  struggle  for  wealth  begins. 

Moreover,  accorcing  to  W.  T.  Thornton  and  other  writers  on 
"Labour,"  this   unequal  power  of  contract,    in  conjunction  with  the 


iNJUSnCE    OF   THE    P.^ESE-VT   CDXTRA-Cr  SYSTEM.  I09 

right  tc  protection  of  person  or  property,  *  are  the  only  rights  pos- 
sessed by  a  majority  of  the  world's  workers,  the  employees  ;  while  to 
the  balance,  the  employers,  go  the  entire  means  of  employment  and 
sources  of  wealth  !  Such  sentiments  applied  to  the  natural  right  of 
man,  are  worthy  only  of  minds  blinded  by  the  dust  and  evil  of 
what  />,  and  what  has  come  up  through  the  centuries^  rather  than  in- 
spired by  the  faith  and  justice  of  what  ought  to  be. 

However,  in  connection  with  this  bastard,  unequal,  unjust  system 
of  contract,  rankly  originated  the  competition  which  seems  to  many  to 
be,  alone,  the  inspiring  genius  of  industrial  life.  In  this  contention 
for  better,  contracts,  or  what  is  virtually  the  same,  in  this  contention 
over  the  result  of  labor,  which  has  from  the  earliest  times  been  co-op- 
erative, arises  the  competitive  struggle  and  contest  that  has  given 
false  name  to  a  system  of  production,  in  nature  actually  social  or  co 
operative.  It  is  none  other  than  if  a  dozen  boys  had  combined  under 
the  direction  of  one  of  their  number  to  manufacture  a  lot  of  marbles, 
whistles  and  tops  and  then  inaugurate  a  "set  to  "  to  determine  who 
should  retain  and  use  the  larger  part  of  the  results  of  their  joint  labor. 

This  contention,  among  the  boys,  would  aptly  epitomize  that 
phase  of  proletarianism  which,  regulated  by  laws  against  fraud  and 
violence  and  sustained  by  custom,  prejudice  and  ignorance,  is  com- 
monly known  as  competition.  It  commenees  in  civil  and  industrial 
life,  in  implied  or  expressed  contracts  with  a  stronger,  more  cap- 
able, more  favorably  conditional  party  of  one  part,  and  a  weaker 
more  ignorant,  despoiled-of-his-interest-in-the-common-heritage  party 
of  the  other  part. 

And  yet  this  unequal  basis  for  the  making  of  contracts  is  regarded 
by  legal  writers  and  by  economic  writers  like  Thornton,  as  just  and 
equitable;  just  and  equitable  that  a  small  proportion  of  the  world's 
population  should  appropriate  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  the 
social  appliances  of  production  and  hedge  themselves  about  and  forti- 
fy their  holdings  by  laws  and  enactments  of  their  own  making; 
scrupulously  just  that  contracts  so  made,  should  be  regarded  as  sa- 
cred and  binding  on  the  weaker  party  to  them,  as  on  the  stronger  par- 
ty thereto  ! 

Thus  far  in  this  discussion,  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  di 
vision  of  labor  leads  of  necessity  to  a  co-operative  production  ;  and 
the  legal  ownership  and  control  of  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and 
social  appliances  of  production,  and  of  consequence,  the  legal  owner- 
ship and  control  of  the  products  by  a  small  party,  originates  the  strug- 
gle throughout  the  industrial  world,  which  is  known  as  competition. 
It  is  natural  inherent,  inalienable  rights  struggling  with  statute  rights. 

If  every  man,   possessed   the  means   of  self  employment  and  pro- 

*Thornton,  on  Labor,  Page  106. 


I  I O  WEALTH  AND  POVERTY  OF  NATIONS. 

duced  by,  and  for  himself,  then  the  struggle  for  the  results  would  be 
abridged  or  nullified.  Competition  might  then  be  placed  on  an  easy 
and  equitable  basis.  It  would  assume  the  more  friendly,  form  of  em- 
ulation, without  involving  a  question  of  ownership  or  distribution  of 
the  products.  Every  man  would  do  his  best  work,  in  order  to  effect  the 
exchanges  which  his  wants  demanded ;  but  there  would  of  necessity 
be  absent,  the  struggle  for  ownership — ownership  following  as  a  re- 
sult of  production — which  constitutes  at  the  present  day,  the  under- 
lying motive  for  the  fierce  struggle,  which  everywhere  prevails.  But 
such  individulism  is  as  fully,  even  more,  a  Utopia,  than  the  alleged 
Utopia  of  a  social  system  of  which  much  has  been  alleged  and  pre- 
dicted ;  for,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  and  can  be  fully  shown,  all  forms 
and  phases  of  production  have  drifted,  after  lingering  a  moment  in 
the  arena  of  competition  or  individual  operation,  into  the  co-operative 
or  social.  So  long  as  one  man  from  an  innate  desire  and  adaptibility, 
selects  to  do  a  certain  form  of  labor,  so  long  will  division  of 
labor  remain  an  absolute  necessity  ;  and  so  long  as  a  division  of  la- 
bor exists,  no  form  of  production  other  than  co-operative  or  social,  is 
or  can  be. 

The  most  favorable  points  from  which  to  study  the  principal  of  the 
several  sources  of  the  competitive  phase  of  the  industrial  system, — 
which  however,  is  competitive  only  as  regards  consumption  and 
distribution — are  those  where  a  large  body  of  chattel  slaves  have 
been  set  free  at  one  time  ;  where  the  relations  between  master  and 
slave  have  ceased,  and  that  of  employer  and  employee  have  followed. 
The  manumission  of  the  slaves  of  West  India  by  the  British  govern- 
ment after  the  agitation  by  Wilberforce  against  the  existence  of  chattel 
slavery  within  British  dominions,  affords  perhaps,  the  best  opportu- 
nity ;  and  on  a  larger  scale,  though  affected  by  the  perturbing  influence 
of  war,  the  next  most  feasible  point  from  which  to  make  the  study,  is- 
the  occasion  of  the  manumission  of  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States 
by  President  Lincoln.  The  student  of  economic  science  who  is  desi- 
rous of  verifying  or  disproving  the  position  here  taken  regarding  that 
phase  of  competition  involved  in  the  relation  of  employer  and 
employee,  will  find  in  these  instances  ample  field  for  his  consideration. 

It  is  not  contended  that  all  competition  originated  in  this  new 
relation  between  former  master  and  slave.  It  would  only  overlook 
another  important  source  of  competition,  in  which  however,  the 
animus — the  struggle  for  the  result  of  production — remains  the 
same.  Competition  impregnates  the  tniue personelle  of  the  system  as 
it  now  exists.  We  find  competition  of  employers  with  each  other  to 
secure  the  profits  which  have  arisen  and  continually  arise  from  com- 
merce. Undoubtedly,  discovery,  travel  and  the  rise  of  commerce 
have  been  the  historical  occasions  of  the  origin  of  competition  among 
employers.     Long  before  chattel  slavery  had  given  place  to  the  wage 


WE    HAVE    NO    INDUSTRIAL    SYSTEM.  Ill 

system,  slave  owners  were  engaged  to  some  small  extent  in  the  com- 
petitive strife  among  themselves  for  the  results  of  production,  through 
such  meager  marts  of  exchange  as  could  be  sustained  where  the  larger 
mass  of  producers  were  chattels.  It  is  easy  to  see,  however,  that  ex- 
changes of  no  great  extent  or  variety  could  be — have  not  been — sus- 
tained, where  nine  tenths  of  the  population,  possessing  no  purchasing 
power,  were  incapable  of  becoming  purchasers,  and  it  is  furthermore 
a  warrantable  inference  as  well  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  before  the 
manumission  of  slaves,  competition  among  masters  was  inactive 
and  unimportant.  The  American  slave  owners  were  among  the  last 
of  the  class  and  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  exchange  originated  by  other 
sections  of  the  country  and  other  nations,  and  conducted  under  the 
auspices  of  personal  or  direct  freedom  ;  but  even  among  them,  com- 
petition was  of  a  low  degree  of  intensify.  Most  of  the  exchanges  en- 
tered into  were  conducted  for  the  benefit  of  their  slaves.  Few  of  the 
masters  ever  became  rich,  as  contrasted  with  the  rich  of  twenty-five 
years  thereafter,  because  the  products  of  cheir  social  production  in 
connection  with  their  slaves  were  more  equitably  distributed  than 
since  then,  and  because  the  end  of  their  production  was  rather  use, 
as  applied  to  the  support  of  those  dependent  upon  them,  than  profit 
and  material  grandeur  for  themselves.  Industrial  competition,  from 
whatever  standpomt  observed,  and  whether  considered  as  to  its  origin 
or  growth,  has  been  closely  connected  with,  and  to  a  manifest  extent, 
was  and  is  the  result  of  the  change  from  chattel  slavery  to  proletari- 
anism  ;  and  everywhere  its  essence  has  been  to  secure  with  the  least 
possible  labor,  the  largest  amount  of  those  commodities  produced  by 
previous  or  concurrent  cooperative  labor.  A  friendly  and  efficient 
emulation  resulting  in  the  betterment  of  the  production,  is  a  concom- 
itant of  and  attaches  to  co-operative  production  with  an  affinity  and 
strength  more  than  equal  to  its  attachment  to  the  spirit  and  progress 
of  competitive  distribution.  Emulation  establishes  a  better  product ; 
competition  determines  its  ownership. 

But  the  prominent  thought  desired  to  be  impressed  on  the  mind  of 
the  reader  is  that  competition  among  individual  employers,  competi- 
tion between  employers  and  employees,  and  competition  among  indi- 
vidual employees  is  everywhere  a  struggle  among  men,  the  mass  of 
them  freed  from  direct  slavery,  for  the  products  of  a  production  which 
is  now,  and  ever  has  been  co-operative  or  social. 

We  talk  and  write  of  our  competitive  system  ;  but  all  methodical 
writers  evince  a  consciousness  more  or  less  distinct,  in  their  vaguely 
expressed  thoughts^  that  it  is  an  uncertain  element.  They  have 
rarely  analyzed  the  conception  to  ascertain  its  exact  truth.  The  real 
truth  is  the  industrial  world  has  no  system ;  it  is  in  a  transition  stage, 
and  is  hesitating  between  the  acceptance  of  co-operation  in  dstribu- 
tion,  or  a  return  to  competition  in  production.     It  is  straddling  the 


112  WEALTH, AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

fence,  with  the  leg  of  co-operative  production  firmly  fixed  on  the  oth- 
er and  progressive  side,  and  the  leg  of  competitive  distribution,  or  the 
conservative  leg,  in  the  rear.  It  stands  as  political  principles  stood 
in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  Napoleon  said  that 
Europe  must  become  all  cossack  or  all  republican ;  it  hangs  back  in 
the  march  of  progress  as  when  Seward,  before  the  War  of  the  Amer- 
ican Rebellion,  uttered  the  prophetic  statement  that  labor  in  the 
United  States  must  become  all  slave  or  all  free,  and  proclaimed  the 
*'  irrepressible  conflict." 

It  requires  no  prophetic  vision  to  see  that  co-opeartive  production 
must  cease,  or  co-operative  distribution  must  be  harnessed  to  the 
chariot  of  progress  with  it ;  and  that  the  ineradicable  instincts  of  even- 
handed  justicehave  already  inaugurated  another  irrepressible  conflic  ; 
that  before  we  can  have  an  industrial  system  worthy  to  be  so  termed, 
both  production  and  distribution  must  become  either  competitive  and 
individual,  or  co-operative  and  social. 


DEFINITION    OF    WEALTH,  II3 

FURTHER     ANALYSIS      OF      NATIONAL 
WEALTH    AND    POVERTY. 

CHAPTER   VL,  SECTION   II. 

The  previous  section  was  devoted  to  establishing  the  truth  that 
production  has  become  wholly  co-operative,  and  that  distribution  yet 
remains  principally  competitive  ;  and  to  announcing  the  proposition 
that  before  we  may  boast  of  an  industrial  system  worthy  the  name, 
production  must  again  take  on  primitive  conditions  and  become  all 
individual  and  competitive,  or  distribution  must  advance  and  be- 
come all  co-operative,  carrying  with  its  advance  that  satisfying  equity 
which  underlies  and  sustains  the  movements  of  co-operation.  Acts 
of  production  scarcely  touch  questions  of  equity,  but  the  processes  of 
distribution  introduce  them  at  once,  and  the  struggle  for  its  univer- 
sal establishment  is  the  essence  of  that  more  palpable  struggle  which 
now  agitates  the  industrial  world. 

Let  us  pass  the  topics  just  mentioned  and  enter  more  particu- 
larly upon  that  general  topic  which  now  demands  our  attention  ;  viz., 
national  wealth  and  poverty.  Let  us  inquire  what  is  wealth  ;  how 
it  is  differentiated  and  defined  ;  how  produced  and  increased,  and 
through  what  causes,  and  the  operation  of  what  measures,  poverty 
spreads  its  dark  cloud  over  lands  prolific  in  all  the  essential  elements 
of  wealth. 

Wealth  is  a  positive,  percepj:ible  and  tangible  entity,  and  its  pro- 
duction and  increase  rest  upon  the  effective  use  of  positive  and  act- 
ive agencies.  It  consists  essentially  of  certain  values  found  in  na- 
ture and  brought  into  existence  by  natural  agencies,  to  which,  often, 
are  added  other  values  produced  by  human  effort ;  values  embody- 
ing certain  inherent  or  applied  qualities  adapted  to  supply  of  human 
want,  to  increase  the  effectiveness  of  human  effort,  and  to  contribute 
to  the  development  of  human  character. 

Poverty  is  a  negative  proposition.  It  is  but  pure,  intangible,  de- 
ficiency, and  rests  upon  the  decreased  action  or  cessation  of  produc- 
tive agencies,  natural  and  human. 

The  production  of  wealth,  considered  broadly  and  deeply,  is  effect- 
ed by  the  efficient  operation  of  active  and  passive  forces,  on  raw  mat- 
erial. It  will  be  noted  that  in  all  fields  of  production,  active 
and  passive  agencies  are  universally  associated  in  the  achievement  of 
results,  and  that  these  operations  are  concentrated  around  and  upon 
some  form  of  matter  undergoing  adaptive  changes.  This  principle 
of  ccncentration^two  upon  one — is  notable  in  the  domains  of  both 
nature  and  art.  In  the  construction  of  a  horse-shoe  by  the  black- 
smith the  passive  force  lies  in  the  anvil,  which  supports  the  raw  iron 


114  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

and  resists  the  blows  which  fall  upon  it.  The  active  force  is  in  the 
blacksmith's  arm,  and  the  raw  material  is  the  heated  iron,  to  be  trans- 
formed into  a  horseshoe.  In  the  grindinji  of  wheat  the  passive  force 
lies  in  the  lower  millstone,  the  active  force  in  the  upper  millstone, 
and  the  wheat  constitutes  the  raw  material  which  is  to  be  transformed 
into  bran,  middlings  and  flour.  The  production  of  a  ton  of  wheat 
involves  the  same  factors.  The  passive  force  thereto  is  the  land — 
including  moisture  and  air;  the  active  force  embraces  heat,  light, 
electricity,  terrestrial  magnetism,  chemical  affinity  and  cohesion, 
and  the  raw  material  is  the  seed  upon  which  these  forces  act  and  re- 
act. Birds  and  other  oviparous  animals  come  into  being  through 
operation  of  the  same  forces,  acting  and  re-acting  on  the  previously 
impregnated  egg ;  impregnation  falling  under  the  same  generalization. 
The  passive  force  is  the  nest  or  womb,  and  the  active  force  the  heat 
and  magnetism  of  the  mother.  In  diversified  forms  and  multitu- 
dinous phases,  animal  wealth,  like  natural  wealth  in  the  mineral  and 
vegetable  kingdoms,  is  the  result  of  a  play  of  forces,  the  active 
against  the  passive,  and  on  matter.  One  needs  but  to  reflect  mo- 
mentarily to  understand  that  all  production  centers  about  raw  mater- 
ial, embodied  in  the  animal  egg,  the  vegetable  seed  and  the  mineral 
atom,  and  that  the  increase  and  decrease  of  corresponding  forms  of 
wealth — riches  or  poverty — are  achieved  by  increased  or  decreased 
action  and  re-action  of  these  forces.  Nor  does  it  matter  how  com- 
plicated become  the  processes,  nor  hov/  human  labor,  mental  and 
manual,  supported  by  tools,  implements  and  machinery  of  intermin- 
able variety,  becomes  commingled  with  the  intricate  and  complex 
processes  of  nature;  the  principle  here  adduced  is  traceable  through  it 
all.  In  a  single  utterance,  production  of  wealth,  spiritual  or  mater- 
ial, natural  or  artificial,  is  the  result  of  incessant  action  and  re-action 
of  the  forces  upon  raw  material,  through  which  the  raw  becomes 
ripened  and  adapted  to  use. 

This  teaching  is  somewhat  apart,  if  not  antagonistic,  to  the  cur- 
rent teachings  of  economic  writers,  who  recognize  that  only  as  wealth 
which  has  been  produced  by  human  labor ;  whether  economic  writers 
are  in  error  in  this  regard  is  determinable  by  reference  to  facts  and 
definitions.  The  commonly  accepted  definition — viz.,  that  wealth  is 
whatever  gratifies  human  desire — at  once  demonstrates  the  error ;  for 
nature,  unassisted  by  human  labor,  through  ihe  operation  of  the 
forces  on  matter,  produces  many  things  which  not  only  gratify  but 
fully  satisfy  human  desire.  Fruits,  berries,  grains,  nuts,  and  vegeta- 
bles in  vast  varieties  and  immense  quantities  are  found  in  nature's 
granaries,  fully  adapted,  through  the  natural  development  of  exquisite 
qualities,  to  the  gratification  of  human  desire  and  the  supply  of  hu- 
man want.  Animals  for  service  and  food,  game  that  crowds  the  for- 
ests and  fish  which  fill  the  streams  and  school  the  ocean  coasts,  are 


WEALTH    NATURAL    AND    ARTIFICIAL.  II5 

fully  adapted  by  nature  to  gratify  gastronomic  desires  and  fastidious, 
tastes.  They  need  but  be  taken,  reduced  to  convenient  forms  and 
used.  What  form  of  food  is  or  can  be  made  more  perfect  than  pure 
milk?  It  is  natural  wealth.  Nothing  slakes  human  thirst  more 
completely  than  pure  water,  and  nothing  but  oxygen  of  the  circum- 
ambient air  can  satisfy  the  desire  for  fresh,  decarbonized  blood.  It 
is  especially  near  the  equator,  and  within  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
where  nature  performs  and  completes  her  most  perfect  work  of 
adaptation,  and  where  natural  wealth  abounds  in  such  varieties  and 
amounts  that  human  labor  is  but  little  required  to  secure  existence. 
Do  not  these  things,  produced  without  the  interference  or  assistance 
of  human  labor,  come  clearly  within  the  bounds  of  the  best  defini- 
tions of  wealth  ?  Hence,  another  departure  from  the  teachings  of 
most  economic  writers  is  unavoidable.  Wealth  must  be  placed 
under  two  subdivisions  ;  viz.,  natural  and  artificial — the  former 
produced  by  efforts  of  the  natural  forces,  the  latter  by  the  efforts  of 
man  ;  or,  on  one  hand,  by  creative  labor,  on  the  other,  by  human 
labor. 

Another  condition  connected  with  the  definition  of  wealth  it  is 
well  to  regard ;  viz.,  that  through  whatever  evolution  and  aggrega- 
tion of  values,  and  to  whatever  point  of  perfection  short  of  complete 
adaptation  to  the  supply  of  want,  the  productive  process  may  have 
advanced,  the  values  so  aggregated  and  harmonized  cannot  be  re- 
garded as  wealth.  Short  of  the  line  of  maximum  adaptation,  values 
so  aggregated  will  remain  as  material,  more  or  less  raw,  more  or  lers 
ripe.  Not  until  the  clear  line  of  finish,  outlined  in  the  purpose  for 
which  the  product  or  commodity  was  designed,  has  been  reached, 
can  any  accumulation  or  aggregation  of  values,  however  nearly  they 
may  approximate  completion,  be  termed  wealth.  Commodities, 
or  products,  must  be  finished  to  the  point  of  utility.  There  may  be 
values  but  no  utility.  There  must  be  values  in  what  we  term  wealthy.^ 
but  We  may  have  values  uselessly  aggregated  in  great  masses  ;  ta  ^ 
constitute  wealth  they  must  be  gathered  in  an  orderly  arrangement 
around  some  distinct  end  of  use,  and  must  have  reached  the  fullness 
of  adaption  which  utility  requires. 

Below  this  line  of  finish,  from  the  first  effort  to  the  last,  labor  can 
have  produced,  not  wealth,  but  various  grades  and  degrees  of  raw 
material. 

Here  we  draw  the  line  between  wealth  and  capital.  It  is  clear, , 
guided  to  the  truth  by  these  definitions,  that  much  which  is  common- 
ly embraced  under  the  term  capVal  by  economic  writers  is  wealth,, 
and,  being  wealth,  cannot  logically  be  termed  capital;  such,  for  in- 
stance, as  tools,  implements,  machinery,  fixtures,  buildings,  provisions 
and  other  products,  commodities  and  structures,  which  have  been 
completed  by  labor,  creative  or  human,  to  the  line  of  finish,  adapted 


Il6  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

to  the  supply  of  human  want,  increased  effectiveness  of  human  ef- 
fort, and  development  of  human  character. 

The  ordinary  use  of  the  term  capital  is  confused  and  involved  ; 
nor  is  the  use  by  economic  writers  much  more  lucid  or  logical. 
The  definition  of  each  author  differs  from  the  definition  of  every  other 
author.  It  is  used  indiscriminately  with  7noney,  wealthy  education, 
industry  and  labor.  Even  the  later  definition — viz.,  "  wealth  used 
for  the  production  of  more  wealth" — involves  rapid  and  ridiculous 
transformations  in  things  which  do  not  and  cannot  rapidly  change. 
By  it,  a  horse  used  to  plow  in  the  morning  is  capital ;  used  in  the 
afternoon  to  transport  the  family  to  the  park,  is  wealth.  A  coat  used 
in  business  during  the  day  is  capital,  because  it  is  wealth  used  in  the 
further  production  of  wealth — in  other  words,  it  is  then  both  wealth 
and  capital — in  the  evening,  at  a  game  of  billiards,  it  is  wealth  alone. 
To-day,  a  building  used  by  a  company  of  coopers  in  the  manufacture 
of  barrels  is  capital ;  to-morrow,  used  as  a  dance-house,  it  is  wealth. 
A  steara-engine  used  in  my  lumber  sloop  is  capital ;  if  I  transport  it 
to  my  yacht  and  use  ir  to  propel  myself  and  friends  on  an  excursion 
of  pleasure,  it  becomes  wealth.  It  is  clear  that  even  this  definition  is 
crude  and  inapt ;  it  follows  not  the  thing  itself,  but  its  use  ;  it  draws 
no  exclusive  or  inclusive  lines,  and  points  out  no  unvarying  charac- 
teristics. 

From  an  extensive  comparison  of  the  definitions  given  by  different 
authors,  and  from  the  definition  of  wealth  and  its  intimate  relations 
with  capital  and  capitalists,  it  is  suggested  that  capital  is  raw  material, 
and  raw  material  alone.  This  definition,  in  connection  with  that  of 
wealth,  will  bring  the  use  of  the  terms  capital  and  wealth  into  har- 
mony, and  explain  the  complicated  facts  and  rapid  transformations 
which  now  seem  to  bewilder  the  closest  observers  and  the  clearest 
reasoners.  The  capitalist  is  a  pioneer,  an  enterprising,  industrial 
leader,  who,  having  secured  ownership  of  raw  material,  originating  in 
monad,  seed  and  egg,  carries  it  through  the  processes  of  labor — his 
own  and  that  of  others — to  the  complete  adaptability,  finish  and 
ripeness  of  wealth.  All  wealth  being  derived  through  labor — crea- 
tive and  human — applied  to  raw  material,  the  capitalist  becomes, 
through  business  sequences,  the  owner  of  wealth,  which  he  uses — 
without  naming  it  capital — to  supply  his  wants,  to  render  his  labor 
more  satisfactory  and  effective,  produce  more  wealth  easily  and 
rapidly,  or  to  develop  his  character.  The  real  field  of  wealth 
is  not  enlarged,  nor  the  true  function  of  capital  is  not  narrowed,  by 
these  definitions. 

In  connection  with  propositions  already  advanced  concerning  the 
division  of  human  labor  and  its  relation  to  co-operation  and  compe- 
tition, the  instrumentalities  whereby  and  processes  through  which 
national  wealth  is  produced  and  increased  are  made  clear.     Produc- 


WEALTH    PRIVATE    AND    PUBLIC.  I  17 

tion  and  increase  involve  the  unrestricted  and  vigorous  application 
of  all  the  forces,  creative  and  human,  to  the  amplest  abundance  of 
raw  material ;  and  when  one  surveys  and  analyzes  the  entire  field  of 
operations,  he  is  amazed  at  the  economic  egotism  which  inspires  the 
claim  that  human  labor  is  the  only  or  principal  active  producer  of 
national  wealth: 

It  has  been  assumed  by  economic  writers  that  national  wealth  is 
the  aggregate  wealth  of  all  citizens.  In  a  more  accurate,  strict,  but 
limited  sense,  however,  national  wealth  is  what  the  nation  as  a  cor- 
porated  organization  alone  owns — its  armaments,  harbors,  public 
buildings,  parks  and  other  property,  which  in  no  sense  is  or  can  be 
claimed  by  individuals ;  but,  as  through  taxation  the  wealth  of  in- 
dividuals may  be  drawn  into  the  national  treasury^  or  appropriated 
to  public  use,  to  the  full  amount  of  its  value,  if  required  by  public 
emergencies,*  the  wealth  of  the  individual  may  be  considered  as 
constituting  a  portion  of  the  national  wealth.  Whether  held  by  the 
individual  or  by  the  government,  it  is  held  for  use  or  consumption  ; 
and  what  the  former  holds  may  be  taken  to  preserve  the  power  and 
efficiency  of  the  government,  and  what  the  latter  holds  is  held — always 
theoretically,  generally  practically — for  the  use  and  advantage  of  the 
individual  citizen. 

Are  not  the  already  intimate  relations  between  the  individual  and 
the  nation,  of  which  the  former  is  a  constituent  unit,  forcibly  pro- 
phetic that  the  undoubted  care  of  the  nation  for  the  citizen  in  polit- 
ical and  civil  affairs  may  be  extended  more  fully  to  assert  and  jDro- 
tect  the  industrial  rights  of  the  latter  ? 

As  regards  national  poverty  or  deficiency,  which  expresses  itself  to- 
tally in  connection  with  the  condition  of  the  individual,  it  is  com- 
monly asserted  that,  as  a  condition,  it  has  always  existed,  and  that  it 
must  always  continue  to  impair  the  full  activity  and  erijoyment  of 
large  masses  of  the  human  race.  It  is  true  that  poverty  has  enjoyed 
a  long  reign  on  the  earth,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  its  reign  has  not 
been  forced  on  humanity  through  lack  of  creative  effort  in  the 
domain  of  nature.  It  is  human  inertia,  coupled  with  human  exac- 
tion and  greed,  which  has  led  to  the  deficiencies  of  wealth,  which  we 
term  poverty;  />z^r//«  of  comprehensive  and  effective  thought,  plan, 
undertaking  and  enterprise;  inertia,  not  alone  of  the  vast  and  slug- 
gish body  of  manual  laborers,  but  coupled  with  overweening  self- 
ishness, of  those  who  have  taken  the  lead  and  directed  the  industrial 
movements  of  the  world;  inertia  of  men  and  women  who,  already 
)rovided  with  the  means  of  comfort,  culture  and  refinement,  might 
rather  turn  their  energies  to  the  substantial  and  permanent  better- 
lent  of  the  conditions  of  their  fellows  than  to  lives  of  ease  and  lux- 

*  Chief-Justice  Marshall  says,  "The  power  to  tax  involves  the  power  to  destroy";  again,  "If 
Ihe  right  to  tax  exists,  it  is  a  right  which,  in  its  nature,  acknowledges  no  limit." 


Il8  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

ury.  What  has  been,  need  not,  7c>iU  rwt,  always  be.  The  potential 
energies  of  man  are  increasing,  and  the  powers  of  nature  are  rapid- 
ly advanced  to  supplement  and  give  effectiveness  to  human  effort ; 
and  that  paramount  obstruction  to  the  equitable  distribution  of  wealth 
and  its  corresponding  increase,  human  greed,  must  gradually  yield 
to  the  elevating  and  softening  influences  of  reason  and  good-will. 

In  the  earlier  periods  of  the  several  civilizations  that  have  success- 
ively appeared  and  disa])peared,  wealth  was  not  only  scarce,  but  it 
was  enjoyed  by  the  smallest  possible  minority.  Only  the  sovereign 
and  a  small  number  of  his  retainers  could  nourish  their  bodies  with 
the  choicest  and  most  strengthening  forms  of  food ;  could  array 
themselves  in  comfortable,  tasteful  and  rich  j^jarments,  and  shelter 
themselves  in  tenements  which  embodied  comfort,  luxury  and  the 
highest  forms  of  current  art.  Wealth  of  the  earlier  periods  was  en- 
joyed, as  now,  only  by  those  who  held  the  assumed  or  delegated  pow- 
er to  retain  control  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  the  appliances  of 
production  ;  or,  what  was  more  to  their  mind,  to  divert  to  themselves 
and  their  own  use,  through  enforced  contribution  and  taxation,  the 
entire  surplus  wealth  of  the  lands  which  they  occupied  and  governed. 
The  requisite  power  was  usually  held  by  a  military  despot,  or  his 
established  successors  and  their  dependents. 

But  as  the  power  of  the  autocrat  was  subsequently  and  gradually 
"shared  with  his  dependents,  as  the  plutocracy  attained  prestige  and 
position,  derived  peaceably  or  wrested  violently  from  the  theretofore 
irresponsible  sovereign,  the  sources  of  wealth  and  the  existing  appli- 
ances of  production  fell  slowly  and  insensibly  into  the  control  of  a 
much  larger  proportion  of  the  population,  which  thereby  came  into 
possession  of  the  wealth  derived  therefrom.  The  proportion,  how- 
ever, even  with  the  later  civilizations,  was  always  small;  for  in  Rome, 
during  its  wealthiest  periods,  scarcely  more  than  five  hundred,  of  the 
many  millions  who  populated  Italy  and  the  outlying  provinces,  could 
be  said  to  rank  among  the  opulent. 

But  when  the  unrestricted  will  of  military  chieftains  and  hereditary 
despots  began  to  be  limited  by  constitutional  law ;  when  the  noblesse 
had  established  their  rights  in  the  statute;  when  chattel  slavery  had 
melted  away  before  the  rising  sun  of  individual  liberty,  and  the  man- 
hood of  slave  as  well  as  master  began  to  be  recognized ;  when  the 
struggle  for  individual  existence  had  been  stimulated  by  the  uncared- 
for  CA-igencies  and  unsupplied  wants  of  the  former  slave,  through  the 
vigor  ous  operation  of  varied  influences  and  progressive  forces,  a 
gradual  and  more  complete  dissemination  of  the  natural  sources  of 
wealth  and  social  appliances  of  production,  of  land,  raw  material, 
provisions,  implements  and  mechanisms  of  manufacture,  and  means 
of  exchange — was  manifested,  and  the  advantages,  comforts  and 
insignia  of  opulence  which  attached  at  first  and  alone  to  the  conquer- 


NZW    INDUSTRIAL    REGIME.  II9 

ing  despot  and  his  immediate  retainers,  were  more  and  more  diffused 
and  enjoyed  by  a  larger  and  larger  circle  of  the  hliman  race. 

Even  under  these  conditions,  which  were  proximately  realized  in 
Europe  during  portions  of  what  have  been  termed  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  quantity  of  wealth  as  contrasted  with  the  exuberance  of  the  pres- 
ent, though  more  evenly  distributed,  was  small.  Subsequently,  under 
the  auspices  of  repul)lican  institutions,  and  of  those  monarchies  the 
power  of  whose  sovereigns  was  progressively  limited  by  constitu- 
tional concessions,  under  the  stimulus  of  individual  liberty  and  the 
development  of  general  intelligence  in  such  countries  as  Switzerland 
with  its  social  polity,  France  with  its  divided  lands,  America  with  its 
new  and  unappropriated  territory,  and  England  through  her  world- 
wide commercial  interests,  through  discovery  and  utilization  of  nat- 
ural laws  and  unleashing  of  natural  forces,  through  the  division  of 
opportunities  incident  to  rapid  development  and  unrestricted  per- 
sonal freedom,  distribution  of  the  sources  of  wealth  in  some  instances, 
and  of  produced  wealth  in  others,  was  not  only  tendered  to  larger 
numbers,  but  the  bulk  of  wealth  was  vastly  increased. 

In  the  midst  of  these  remarkable  developments,  these  progressive 
distributions  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  the  appliances  and  results 
of  production,  these  onward  movements  of  the  industrial  masses  from 
industrial  tyranny  and  exactions,  of  political  and  civil  despotism,  the 
seed  of  a  new  industrial  regime  was  planted  — a  regime  inaugurated 
on  the  abolition  of  chattel  slavery  and  the  establishment  of  the  rela- 
tion between  employer  and  employee,  which  has  developed  a  ten- 
dency and  controling  power  antagonistic  to  the  present  material  well- 
being  of  the  world's  dependent  workers,  as,  in  earlier  days  was  the 
despotism  of  autocratic  rulers. 

While  chattel  slavery,  permitted  and  sustained  by  the  old^r  mil- 
itary and  civil  despotisms,  held  its  subjects  by  fetter  and  thong,  and 
drove  them  to  labor  by  whip  and  goad,  it  was  responsible  for  food, 
raiment,  shelter  and  general  care.  On  the  other  hand,  the  new  in- 
dustrial regime  withdrew  not  only  fetter  and  goad  on  one  hand,  but 
responsibility  for  food,  raiment,  shelter  and  general  care  on  the 
other ;  and  at  the  same  time  excluded  the  freedman  from  the  means 
of  self-employment  and  sources  of  subsistence.  An  old  form  of  de- 
pendence was  broken  and  a  new  form  enforced.  In  the  former  the 
man  was  driven  to  rely  on  his  master,  in  the  latter  on  the  land  owner 
and  employer.  Personal  freedom  was  accorded,  but  the  slavery  of 
conditions — exclusion  from  the  only  sources  of  supply  and  means  of 
'  existence — was  substituted.  The  former  incited  to  toil  through  fear 
of  bodily  pain,  the  latter  through  fear  of  misery  and  death  by  starva- 
tion. The  slave  lost  the  legal  right  to  subsistence  at  the  hands  of 
his  master,  and  gained  the  legal  right  to  command  his  own  body 
and  enter  on  a  struggle  for  his  natural  interest  in  the  common  heri- 


120  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

tage,  and  his  natural  right  to  retain  and  live  on  the  results  of  his 
own  labor  ;  but,  being  absolved  fro  n  direct  servitude  to  the  person, 
he  ,was  re-inslaved  by  conditions,  and  driven  back  to  the  former  mas- 
ter, who  held  him  again,  not  through  fear  of  bodily  injury,  but  through 
fear  of  physical  misery  and  starvation. 

Who  will  assert  that  emancipation  was  of  great  advantage  to  the 
slave?  The  gain  certainly  does  not  at  once  apjiear  in  betterment  of 
material  conditions.  On'the  contrary,  in  that  direction,  much  was 
at  first  lost ;  but  the  change  was  an  initiatory  step  to  a  broader  and 
deeper  movement,  which  tended  to  make  the  slave  a  man,  and  place 
him  ultimatelv,  through  an  industrial  unfoldment  not  yet  completed, 
on  a  soil  and  in  an  atmosphere  where  freedom  from  dependence  and 
the  fullest  liberty  is  attainable.  To  become  a  man  he  must  first 
cease  to  look  to  another  man  for  subsistence,  and  must  turn  first  to 
himself  and  second  to  nature,  in  self  supply  of  his  own  wants.  The 
new  conditions,  while  overburdened  with  objective  evils  and  circum- 
stantial difficulties,  abounded  in  the  subjective  germs  of  present  good 
and  future  advancement.  They  embodied  and  stimulated  to  life  the 
sum  of  those  interior  principles  and  exterior  forces,  through  whose 
interactive  energies  the  some-time  industiial  system  of  the  world  is 
destined  to  unfold  and  expand.  Differing  from  the  subjective  and 
objective  conditions  of  chattel  slavery,  from  the  ashes  of  which  they 
sprung,  they  stimulated  the  choices  of  the  individual  will,  incited  to 
the  acquirement  of  individual  knowledge,  and  encouraged  individual, 
self-segregating  and  independent  action.  Like  other  men,  crowded 
with  the  burden  ot  a  great  desire,  and  seeing  in  its  consummation 
the  sum  of  all  happiness,  the  freedman  did  not  at  first  realize  that 
his  efforts  were  handicapped  by  want  of  free  opportunities  through 
which  he  could  provide  for  his  wants.  He  did  not  recognize  that 
he  was  fettered  by  social  conditions ;  that  he  was  launching  into  a 
new  life,  despoiled  by  statute  law  of  his  equitable  interest  in  the  nec- 
essary means  of  existence;  but,  joyed  with  the,  to  him,  great  fact  of 
personal  liberty,  went,  because  irresistibly  driven,  cheerfully  because 
remonstrance,  with  existing  institutions  and  laws  was  useless,  to  his 
former  master  for  the  means  of  subsistence.  He  found  the  food  for 
the  germ  of  this  new  and  independent  manhood  must  be  fought  for 
with  an  energy  born  of  desperation.  His  old  master  was  yet  his 
master. 

In  one  sense,  however,  they  met  on  equal  terms  ;  each — the  freed- 
man within  very  narrow  limits — could  command  his  own  choices  and 
his  own  actions,  and  they  found  a  narrow  arena  where  their  present 
and  future  interests  determined  them  to  certain  agreements  which 
would  save  the  freedman  from  starvation  and  give  the  master  the 
benefit  of  the  freed  man's  labor  as  before.  The  mutuality  of  these 
common  interests  is  to   be  judged  by  their  character,   the  former 


LOSSES    AND    GAINS    OF    FREEDMEN.  121 

and  subsequent  relations  between  the  parties,  and  the  ultimate  re- 
sults to  both. 

Through  this  necessity  of  subsistence  on  part  of  the  freedman,  and 
the  desire  to  live  with  as  little  labor  as  possible  on  part  of  the  6wner 
of  subsistence,  for  the  old  relations  of  master  and  slave,  were  substi- 
tuted three  new  and  possible  relations  between  the  same  parties  ; 
first  employer  and  employee,  second  lessor  and  lessee,  and  third  sel- 
ler and  purchaser. 

It  was  possible  for  either  party  to  escape  these  new  relations 
through  one  of  two  or  three  avenues  of  exit — avenues  always  open  to 
the  master,  rarely  open  to  the  freedman.  As  to  the  master,  he 
could  live  in  a  primitive  fashion  from  the  results  of  creative  labor; 
from  the  natural  wealth  which  he  could  gather  in  the  form  of  berries, 
fruits,  nut's,  vegetables  and  grains,  or  catch  in  the  form  of  fish,  fowl 
and  land  animals  from  the  territorial  domains  which  he  had  previ- 
ously cultivated  through  slave  labor.  Agam,  it  was  possible  for  him 
to  apply  his  own  labor  througrh  existing  appliances  of  production  in 
agriculture  and  manufacture,  and  thus  supply  his  wants  without  re- 
sort to  new  relations  with  the  freedman.  In  either  of  these  condi- 
tions he  was  the  personification  of  pure  industrial  individualism  and 
isolated  independcMce.  He  produces  what  he  consumes,  and  con- 
sumes alone  what  he  produces. 

As  regards  the  freedman,  his  escape  from  one  of  these  three  new  rela- 
tions, irrespective  of  charity  and  the  violation  of  statute  law  and  es- 
tablished custom,  is  attainable  only  through  settlement  on  the  com- 
mon land  in  his  inimediate  neighborhood — if  there  be  any — or  emi- 
gration to  locations,  domestic  or  foreign,  where  land  may  be  obtained 
for  the  smallest  possible  compensation  of  toil  or  struggle,  peaceful 
or  warlike.  Since  the  discovery  and  opening  of  new  countries,  whose 
inhabitants  dedicated  their  efforts  to  the  chase  or  to  herding,  t  is 
escape  from  the  condition  of  social  slavery — the  slavery  of  circum- 
stance— has  been  opened  wide,  and  millions  of  Europeans  have 
availed  themselves  of  the  new  opportunities  to  relieve  themselves  from 
dependence  on  those  oppressive  conditions  which  everywhere,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  sooner  or  later,  have  followed  chattel  emancipa- 
tion. 

We  assume,  however,  that  neither  the  master  nor  the  slave,  former 
relations  having  been  dissolved  by  emancipation,  desire  to  escape  th  ) 
new  relations  or  their  logical  sequences.  These  relations,  as  already 
noted,  are  that  of  employer  and  employee^  of  lessor  and  lessee^  of  sell- 
er and  purchaser^  and  it  is  interesting  to  note,  in  passing,  how  the 
avoidance  or  acceptance  of  individual  responsibility,  and  hence  the 
decline  or  increase  of  individual  growth,  is  associated  with  each  one 
of  these  new  relations.  The  life  of  the  slave  was  without  responsi- 
bility ;  the  life  of  an  employee  involves  provision  for  self  from  wages 


122  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

received,  without  further  interest  in  the  product.  In  this  relation, 
the  responsibility  of  employer  is  less  than  that  of  master,  of  employee, 
is  by  the  same  weight  greater,  than  that  of  slave. 

But.  th  s  discussion  concerns  the  increase  and  distribution  of 
wealth  more  than  the  development  of  human  character.  Let  us  con- 
sider the  relation  of  employer  and  employee,  and  how  it  affects,  econ- 
omically, both  parties  to  the  preliminary  compact,  and  its  ultimate 
results.  This  compact  involves  what  is  lesjally  termed  a  contract^  and 
implies  equality  and  freedom,  and  therefore  consent  to  the  stipulat- 
ed terms.  The  inequality  of  the  parties  is  in  this  ;  that  the  employer 
is  absolutely  independent,  through  ownership  of  the  entire  natural  and 
social  means  of  employment,  while  the  employee  is  absolutely  de- 
pendent, pos5;essing  only  his  own  person.  As  a  last  resort,  the  em- 
ployee, so  situated,  must  accept  the  terms  of  the  employer.  But, 
from  this  unequal  standpoint,  the  relation  of  employer  and  employee 
is  established,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  the  employer  will  not 
only  hold  but  increase  his  advantages  from  cycle  to  cycle  of  produc- 
tion. In  fact,  he  does,  through  accumulations,  which  are  derived 
largely  from  that  which,  under  natural  or  divine  law,  belongs  in  equity 
to  the  employee.  The  employer's  interests  are  conserved  by  statute 
law  ;  the  interests  of  the  employee  await  the  establishment  of  natur- 
al or  divine  law.  In  the  meantime  he  must  expect  despoilment,  and 
it  comes  through  the  following  means.  The  entire  products  of  this 
compact  are  embraced  in  the  natural  values  produced  by  creative 
labor  and  the  artificial  values  produced  by  human  labor.  The 
means  of  employment  being  owned  by  the  employer,  the  results  of 
e  nployment  fall  entirely  into  his  hands.  To  the  employee  he  pays 
wages  which  represent  a  small  portion  of  the  values  produced  through 
this  co-operative  effort.  In  equity — not  in  law — wages  should  rep- 
resent a  proximately  equal  interest  in  the  total  values  produced, 
because  of  the  equal  interest  of  each  in  the  common  heritage  and 
values  derived  therefrom,  and  the  equal  labor  bestowed  by  each 
thereon  and  the  values  produced  thereby.  Whatever  is  retained  by 
the  employer  more  than  his  portion  of  the  total  values  so  produced  is 
retained  by  virtue  of  his  legalized  ownership — an  ownership  opposed 
by  equity  and  natural  law — of  all  the  common  heritage  and  his  cur- 
rent exclusion  of  the  employee  therefrom. 

This  percentage  taken  from  the  employee  by  the  employer,  over 
and  above  what  the  latter  has  produced  and  inherited,  is  termed 
profit,  and  the  phase  of  production  that  admits  this  exaction  is  termed 
production  for  profit,  to  distinguish  it  ivom  production  for  use,  in  which 
equity  is  regarded.  It  is  through  this  exaction  of  profit  that  the  em- 
ployer becomes  rich  and  the  employee  remains  poor. 

But,  there  is  another  percentage  of  profit  which  the  employer  takes 
not  from  the  employee  but  from  the  consumer.     When  the  product 


NEW    RESPONSIBILITY    OF    FREEDMEN.  1 23 

or  commodity  is  transferred  to  market,  and  demand  is  found  strong 
and  supi)ly  small,  he  takes  in  gold  a  new  percentage  of  values  over 
and  above  the  real  values  embodied  in  his  commodity.  This  is  the 
temporary  price  of  the  goods,  and  is  pure,  unadulterated  exaction. 

Let  us  next  consider  the  new  relation  of  lessor  and  lessee.  The 
entire  difficulty  under  which  the  new  freedman  labors  is  legal  exclu- 
sion from  the  means  of  employment,  from  his  equitable  interests  in 
the  common  heritage,  natural  and  social.  Observing  the  rapidity  of 
accumulation  by  his  employer,  the  employee  pursuades  himself  that 
through  the  management  of  his  own  labor  he  may  advance  his  own 
interests  more  rapidly. 

Unwilling  to  risk  the  purchase  of  land  and  assume  entire  responsi- 
bility of  production,  he  determines  to  become  a  self-employee  through 
lease  of  land  and  tools,  implements  and  machinery,  and  purchase  of 
provisions.  Here  commences  another  net^otiation  in  which  the 
former  employer,  rfow  lessor,  holds  all  the  points  of  advantage. 
Compensation  for  the  use  of  land  is  at  once  demanded,  and  to  the 
demand  forced  consent  is  given.  A  contract,  written  or  verbal,  is 
closed,  and  the  former  slave,  now  lessee,  is  confronted  with  the  pay- 
ment of  rent.  According  to  natural  equity,  the  land  required  to  fur- 
nish him  employment  is  his  own  ;  and  the  natural  values  produced 
thereon  by  creative  labor  are  also  justly  his,  as  well  as  the  values 
produced  by  his  own  labor.  In  this  case,  no  confusion  of  thought  is 
possible,  as  might  easily  be  with  the  former  relation.  Rent  is  a  clear 
exaction  on  the  part  of  the  lessor,  in  which  he  is  sustained  by  statute 
law  against  the  equities  of  natural  or  divine  law ;  an  exaction  in 
which  no  equity  of  labor  applied  can  be  introduced  by  the  lessor, 
and,  unless  products  have  been  in  great  demand  and  prices  high, 
the  lessee  finds  that  the  exaction  of  rent  leaves  him  ultimately  with- 
out greater  progress  toward  hib  emancipation  from  the  new  slavery 
than  if,  with  less  responsibility,  he  had  remained  an  employee.  Prof- 
it and  rent  have  played  the  same  game  with  his  prospects.  In  the 
meantime,  without  labor  and  with  less  responsibilitv,  the  accumula- 
tions of  the  former  master,  now  lessor,  have  constantly  increased, 
taken,  as  are  both,  from  the  laborer's  equitable  interest  in  the  com- 
mon heritage  and  from  the  res  ilts  of  his  labor. 

The  other  new  and  possible  relation — third  and  last — between  the 
two  parties  is  that  of  seller  and  purchaser.  The  same  legal  exclu- 
sion from  his  interest  in  the  common  heritage  moves  him  to  make 
this  last  attempt  and  accept  the  extreme  responsibility.  He  deter- 
mines to  purchase  access  to  his  interest  in  the  common  heritage,  the 
natural  and  social  means  of  self-employment ;  to  ransom  his  inherit- 
ance from  the  possession  of  those  who,  through  statute  law,  have 
robbed  him  of  it.  He  is  also  incited  to  this  new  relation  by  the 
possible  high  prices  of  products,  and  the  probable  advance  in  the 


124  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

• 

price  of  land.  He  hopes  to  secure  these  advantages,  as  he  has  occa- 
sionally seen  the  employer  and  lessor  do.  He  enters  into  a  contract 
to  pay  a  given  sum  for  a  given  areg.  of  land  ;  but  he  is  at  once  met 
with  the  inquiry,  "  Where  is  my  purchasing  power?  "  He  has  none. 
He  is  a  poor  freedman.  But  the  matter  is  arranged  by  another  de- 
vice of  this  regime,  prolific  in  financial  devices.  The  credit  system  is 
inaugurated.  He  buys  the  land,  but  owes  for  it,  and  on  his  debt  a  per- 
centage of  interest  is  annually  taken,  large  enough  to  draw  from  him  the 
net  results  of  his  new  enterprise,  increased  responsibility  and  ardu- 
ous labor.  Or,  he  may  borrow  the  money,  pay  the  vendor  for  his 
land,  and  interest  to  a  third  party.  It  is  all  the  same.  Exclusion 
from  his  equities  in  the  common  heritage,  natural  and  social,  is  the 
prime  and  principal  cause  of  interest,  as  it  is  of  rent.  The  result,  ex- 
traordinaries  excepted,  is  the  same  to  him  as  purchaser,  and  to  the 
other  party  as  vendor,  as  to  him  as  lessee  or  employee,  and  the 
other  party  as  lessor  or  employer  He  obtains  subsistence  as  he  did 
when  slave,  employee  or  lessee,  and  remains  poor  as  then,  while  the 
other  party  lives  from  labor  not  his  own,  and  accumulates  wealth  as 
he  did  when  he  was  master,  employer  or  lessor. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  economic  games  of  profit,  rent  or 
interest  are  the  same  game,  under  different  names  and  disguises,  and 
bring  the  same  results  to  those  who  willingly  or  unwillingly  play  at 
them.  Modern  governments  have  assumed  to.  own  land,  raw  mate- 
rial and  the  natural  appliances  of  production,  the  real  ownership  of 
which  is  vested  in  Almighty  God,  have  sold  it  to  Tom,  Dick  and 
Harry,  and  excluded  the  other  heirs,  of  a  common  Father,  from 
their  heritage. 

This  diversion  was  undertaken  to  portray  the  subtle  elements  of 
that  industrial  regime  which  has  succeeded  the  regime  of  chattel 
slavery,  to  show  through  what  causes  and  methods,  wealth,  the  dis- 
tribution of  which  had  escaped  the  domination  of  military  and  civil 
despots,  has  again  fallen  under  the  new  concentrating  forces  and 
processes  of  modern  private  enterprise.  The  amount  of  wealth,  as 
contrasted  with  former  times,  is  enormous  ;  and  its  concentration 
has  so  much  more  than  kept  pace  with  production  that,  though  the 
sum  of  wealth  has  been  vastly  increased,  relatively,  the  poor  are 
poorer  and  the  rich  richer  than  at  any  other  period  of  national  or 
social  growth. 

Kings  and  potentates,  who  formerly  held  national  wealth  subject 
to  their  despoiling  caprices,  are  now  the  subjects  of  this  industrial 
imperium  in  imperio.  Where  once  they  commanded  they  now  obey. 
The  real  kings  are  industrial  kings. 


SOURCE    OF    PURCHASING    POWER.  1  25 

DEMAND  AND  THE  RESULTS  OF  PROFIT. 
CHAPTER   VI.,  SECTION   IV. 

An  erroneous  impression  prevails  in  most  communities,  that  the 
production  of  wealth  reaches,  in  every  cycle,  the  highest  possible 
maximum.  This  impression  is  sustained  by  the  frequent  assertion 
that,  at  one  time  and  another,  at  one  place  or  another,  demand  for 
various  commodities  has  ceased.  On  the  heels  of  this  oft-repeafed 
assertion,  and  explanator)^  thereof,  arises  the  well-known  cry  of  over- 
production^ and,  as  a  logical  sequence,  general  activity,  through 
which  the  aggregate  of  national  wealth  is  created,  is  systematically 
suppressed,  and  production  is  cruelly  arrested. 

Let  us  consider  these  impressions,  assertions  and  events  in  their 
order,  and  separate  the  truth  from  the  error ;  and,  first,  as  to  the 
nature  and  power  of  the  term  demand.  It  is  distinctly  assumed 
that  the  absence  of  demand  is  the  first  of  a  series  of  facts,  which,  at 
once,  obstructs,  and  subsequently  arrests  production. 

Psychologically  and  subjectively  considered,  demand,  want  and  con- 
suming capacity  are  convertible  or  closely  related  terms.  One  de- 
mands what  he  wants,  and  wants  what  he  demands ;  he  wants  up  to 
the  fullness  of  his  consuming  capacity,  and  when  consuming  capac- 
ity is  filled  to  the  line  of  satiety  wants  no  more.  Demand  is  the 
prerogative  of  consumers,  as  supply  is  the  function  of  producers. 

An  occult  element  is  embodied  in  the  term  demand  which  is  ab- 
sent m  the  term  want.  That  element  is  purchasing  power.  I  de- 
mand only  when  I  have  purchasing  power.  I  want  even  when  I 
have  no  purchasing  power.  Economically  and  objectively  consid- 
ered, demand  must  always  be,  want  may  or  may  not  be,  buttressed 
and  sustained  by  ample  purchasing  power.  Want,  or  subjective,  un- 
supplied  consuming  capacity,  maintains  an  even  movement,  or  under- 
goes a  constant  and  steady  national  increase,  while  the  presence  or 
absence  of  purchasing  power  depends  on  the  will  of  those  who  con- 
trol its  origin,  manage  the  details  of  its  development  and  distribute 
'the  sums  of  money  that  represent,  support  and  make  it  efficient. 

The  importance  of  purchasing  power  can  hardly  be  over-estimated. 
What  is  usually  termed  exchange — the  instrumentality  through  which 
products  pass  from  producers  to  consumers — is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  the  current  process  of  sale  and  purchase.  A  seller  on  one  side, 
a  purchaser  on  the  other — both  by  common  consent  evading  the  de- 
mands of  equity — the  former  disposes  of  his  commodities  at  the 
highest  possible  price,  and  the  latter  gets  them  by  purchase  at  the 
lowest  possible  price.  At  this  simple  process,  the  line  is  distinctly 
drawn   between   the  two  essential  factors  of  industrial  economics, 


126  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF   NATIONS. 

producers  and  consumers  ;  and  when  one  fully  comprehends  the 
truth,  that  the  consumers  of  a  given  commodity  practically  consti- 
tute the  entire  nation,  and  that  the  entire  want  of  the  nation  is  sup- 
pliable  only  through  purchase,  he  will  then  realize  the  paramount 
necessity  of  ample  purchasing  power.  Demand,  to  be  effective, 
must  be  sustained  by  adequate  purchasing  power,  without  which  it  is 
want  unsupplied — poverty  with  possible  beggary,  theft  or  prostitution. 

What  is  purchasing  power,  and  what  is  its  source? 

The  most  common  conception  of  purchasing  power  is  embodied 
in  money,  and  practically  the  conception  is  correct.  Nevertheless, 
this  conception  does  not  touch  its  true  or  substantial  source.  The 
reason  why  money,  paper  or  bullion,  is  available  to  the  purchaser, 
constitutes  an  effective  purchasing  power,  is  because  it  draws  upon 
any  and  all  those  values  which  are  included  in  the  sum  total  of  na- 
tional wealth.  It  is  not  money  which  satisfies  want;  it  is  product, 
commodity  wealth  that  feeds,  clothes,  and  shelters  ;  and  it  is  certain 
qualities  in  products  and  commodities,  calculated  to  feed,  clothe  and 
shelter,  and  which  give  them  value  and  make  them  wantable  and 
therefore  exchangeable.  It  is  these  fundamental  values,  evolved  by 
creative  labor  on  one  hand,  and  human  labor  on  the  other,  that  are 
the  objects  of  want,  the  basis  of  exchange  and  the  source  of  purchas- 
ing power.  Possession  of  purchasing  power  involves  the  possession 
of  values — values  in  land,  water,  air,  in  raw  material,  and  in  the 
active  forces — values  natural  and  values  artificial.  With  values  in 
hand,  whatever  their  nature,  I  have  purchasing  power;  purchasing 
power  which  comes  into  action  just  so  soon  as  another,  also  having 
values,  is,  with  me,  desirous  of  exchange.  Demand  does  not  in- 
crease value  or  purchasing  power  ;  it  increases  price  only.  The  pow- 
er is  present  in  values,  whether  utilized  or  not.  On  the  contrary, 
however  great  demand  and  however  monstrous  the  price  offered,  if  I 
have  no  values  I  have  no  purchasing  power.  A  kingdom  may  be 
offered  for  a  horse,  or  a  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage;  if  I  have  no 
values  in  a  horse  I  cannot  purchase  the  kingdom  ;  if  I  have  no  values 
in  pottage  I  can  buy  no  birthright.* 

Thus,  if  I  go  into  the  marts  of  exchange,  carrying  available  light, 
heat,  electricity,  chemical  power,  human  labor,  land,  and,  under  some 

*  The  position  regarding  values,  assumed  in  this  work — not  consonant  with  teachings  of  cur- 
rent economic  science — is,  that  values  are  inherent,  and  applied;  natural  values, produced  in  nat- 
ure by  creative  labor,  are  inherent;  artifici?.l  values,  proauced  by  human  labor,  are  applied. 
Values  are  also  current,  semi-current  and  deposited;  current  in  the  active  forces,  as  heat,  light, 
electricity,  magnetism,  chemical  affinity,  human  and  animal  labor;  semi-current  in  the  passive 
forces,  as  in  air,  water  and  land;  deposited,  in  raw  material  and  wealth,  as  in  iron,  silver,  gold, 
fruit,  vegetables,  grains,  wood  and  all  forms  of  natural  and  manufactured  commodity.  All  these 
forces,  organisms  and  things  embody  and  embrace  value,  and  contribute,  under  the  operation  of 
demand,  to  utility.  The  arguments  and  proof  in  support  of  these  propositions  are  too  volum- 
inous, for  introduction  here;  but,  as  close  adherence  to  the  facts  of  nature  and  art,  and  reason 
supported  thereby  show,  thej^  are  conclusive.  Fictitious  values  referred  to  in  the  preface  are  il- 
logical, an  erroneous  conception,  a  myth.  Rent,  profit  and  interest  are  merely  the  means  of 
drawing  real  values  from  laborer  and  consumer. 


OVERPRODUCTION.  1 27 

conditions,  water  or  air,  commodity  in  any  one  of  the  thousand  de- 
grees of  adaptability  to  the  supply  of  human  want,  increase  of  human 
effectiveness  or  development  of  human  character,  I  go  there  with 
values,  which,  at  some  ratio,  I  can  exchange  for  other  values.  I  go 
with  purchasing  power  commensurate  with  the  sum  of  values.  Hence, 
purchasing  power  is  derived,  primarily  and  substantially, /r^;;z  nature, 
through  creative  labor,  and  from  art,  through  human  labor  ;  and 
each  man's  equitable  purchasing  power  is,  first,  his  portion  of  those 
values  derived  from  the  common  heritage — determined  by  the  natural 
law  of  proximate  equality ;  and,  second,  the  entire  results  of  his  own 
labor.  Do  we  find  it  so"  distributed?  By  no  means.  An  immense 
purchasing  power  is  held  by  a  small  class  of  prior  men,  and  a  small 
purchasing  po'ver  by  a  large  class  of  later  men.  Concentrated 
through  prior  appropriation,  it  has  been  maintained  .through  laws  of 
permanent  investiture,  by  the  power  of  exclusion  and  the  subsequent 
ability  to  exact  profit,  rent  and  interest  from  the  excluded.  The 
major  part  of  all  values — natural  and  artificial — were  gathered 
into  the  garners  of,  and  are  retained  by,  a  few  industrial  leaders. 
To  the  exhaustion  of  purchasing  power,  which  they  control,  and 
not  to  the  cessation  of  de?nand,  therefore,  they  should  ascribe  the 
alleged  necessity  for  suspending  the  vast  engineries  of  national  pro- 
duction ;  for  retiring  and  impoverishing  a  large  army  of  dependent 
laborers,  and  for  arresting  the  normal-  increase  of  national  wealth. 
The  cry  of  overproduction  also  is  misleading.  It  is  raised  usually 
when  national  consuming  capacity  calls  loudest  for  products,  and 
commodities  to  supply  ivant — want  stimulated  by  underconsumption, 
enforced,  not  by  overproduction. but  by  limitation  or  exhaustion  of 
purchasing  power.  The  cries  of  overproduction  and  cessation  of  de- 
mand rise  from  the  same  throats,  and  are  raised  by  the  parties — cap- 
italists— who  alone  control  the  purchasing  power  which  would  in- 
crease derpand  and  exhaust  surplus  product. 

Unlike  the  animal  heart,  whose  function  in  national  economic  life 
within  the  national  organism  capitalists  were  destined  to  represent 
and  regulate,  having  gathered  the  current  of  national  values  to  them- 
selves, they  retain  the  rich  elements  of  national  comfort  and  develop- 
ment within  the  charmed  circle  of  their  own  existence ;  they  have 
learned  the  receptive  or  diastolic  function  of  the  circulation,  but 
know,  as  yet,  but  little  of  the  distributive  or  systolic  action,  or  its 
necessary  relation  to  national  prosperity.  It  must  be  admitted,  how- 
ever, that  the  situation  of  an  industrial  leader,  moved  by  the  spirit  of 
humanity  and  equity,  is  not  devoid  of  perplexity.  He  is  one  of  con- 
tending thousands,  and  to  save  himself  from  industrial  overthrow  he 
feels  driven  to  current  exactions  on  others,  that  antagonize  his  better 
impulses.*  Thus  far  we  have  traced  the  production  of  national  wealth 

•This  situation  is  discussed  under  "Private  Enterprise,"  page  140  and  following. 


128  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

from  its  origin  in  the  mineral  monad,  vegetable  seed  and  animal 
egg,  through  activities  incited  and  sustained  by  the  active  and  pas- 
sive forces;  have  noted  how  the  division  of  labor  has  induced  co-op- 
erative production ;  have  traced  the  present  industrial  condition 
from  its  rise  in  the  new  relations  between  former  master  and  slave, 
after  chattel  emancipation ;  have  pointed  out  how  the  right  of  ex- 
clusion fro?fi  means  of  employment  gave  rise  to  profit  through  employ- 
ment, to  rent  through  lease  and  to  interest  through  purchase ;  shown 
the  origin  of  purchasing  power,  its  necessity  to  the  general  welfare, 
and  demonstrated  the  truth,  that  the  incessant  exaction  of  profit, 
rent  and  interest,  concentrates  it  among  capitalistic  producers,  and 
limits  and  exhausts  it  among  consumers ;  and  that,  thereby,  national 
industry  and  the  production  of  national  wealth  is  uselessly  and  crim- 
inally arrested.  Let  us  follow  demonstration  into  the  next  section, 
premising  that  the  profit  there  alluded  to  embraces  both  rent  and 
interest. 


SOURCE    OF    NATIONAL    PURCHASING    POWER.  1 29 

HOW     PROFIT     CHECKS     PRODUCTION— A 

MATHEMATICAL  DEMONSTRATION. 
CHAPTER  VI,  SECTION  V. 

But  cavilers  and  critics  will  urge  that  the  conclusions  here  reached 
are  but  the  result  of  an  occult  rationality,  unsustained  by  facts ;  that 
assertion  is  one  thing,  and  truth  often  another. 

On  the  contrary,  these  conclusions  are  sustained  by  authenticated 
facts  and  figures  ;  facts  and  figures  which  show  that  commodities 
gathered  through  operations  in  agriculture,  manufacture  and  com- 
merce, into  the  ownership  of  industrial  leaders,  and  padded  at  every 
step  by  the  fictitious  values  of  profit,  rent  and  interest,  can  and  do> 
find  nowhere  outside  the  holdings  of  capitalists,  that  purchasing  power 
which  sustains  the  consuming  capacity  of  the  nation  ;  a  purchasing 
power  capable  of  clearing  the  markets,  preventing  glut,  consequent 
cessation  of  production,  decrease  of  wealth  and  increase  of  poverty. 

Every  intelligent  man  knows  that  all  commodities  previous  to  that 
moment  when  they  are  ready  for  the  consumer,  belong  absolutely 
and  wholly  to  the  employer,  and  must  go  from  him  to  the  consumer 
through  sale  on  his  part,  and  purchase  on  the  part  of  the  consumer. 
How  is  he,  how  has  he  become  primarily,  how  does  he  remain  sole 
owner  and  possessor  of  the  entire  wealth  of  the  world  ? 

Before  we  go  to  the  more  comprehensive  facts  and  figures,  a  few 
words  in  answer  to  this  question.  The  position  of  current  economic 
science,  touches  value,  and  hence  ownership— for  ownership  follows 
only  where  value  is  recognized—in  a  remarkably  small  spot ;  viz.,.  it 
assumes  that  wealth  produced  by  human  labor,  alone  is  possessed  of 
value  and  is  exchangable.  This  position  is  false,  both  as  to  theory 
and  fact. 

The  truth  is,  that  values  of  the  most  paramount  importance  existed 
long  before  human  labor  came  into  operation;  values  produced  by 
that  Power  that  brought  men  into  existence,  the  energies  of  which 
are  in  perpetual  effort  to  renew  and  reproduce  them  and  perfect  their 
adaptability  to  the  supply  of  human  want.  These  values*  are  called 
natural  values^  to  distinguish  them  from  those  produced  by  human 
labor,  the  values  of  art,  or  artificial  values  ;  and  from  those  fictitious 
values,  invented  by  the  brain  of  men  for  mutual  despoilment  and  en- 
slavement, commonly  known  as  profit,  rent  and  interest. 

These  natural  values  are  the  common  heritage  of  men ;  of  employ-^ 
ers  and  promotors  of  production,  as  well  as  their  followers  and  assist- 

*In  this  work. 


130  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

ant  employes ;  and  they  constitute  an  unmeasured  but  vast  proportion 
of  the  total  values  which  make  the  purchasing  power  of  every  nation. 
These  natural  values,  through  one  channel  or  another,  through 
priority  of  birth,  advent  or  development,  or  priority  embracing  these 
three  characteristics  ;  through  conquest,  seizure  or  heredity  ;  through 
forms  of  ownership  whose  origin  can  not  bear  a  humane  and  en- 
lightened analysis;  these  values,  which  constitute  the  primitive  ele- 
ments of  all  wealth,  are  appropriated  and  held  everywhere  through 
unjust  and  exclusive  laws  by  the  leaders  and  promotors  of  industrial 
enterprise. 

And  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  economic  science,  these  values — 
values  in  timber,  iron,  coal,  granite,  marble,  natural  oil  and  gas,  in 
the  flesh  of  fowl,  fish  and  brute;  in  peltry,  feathers  and  bone;  in  the 
salts  of  the  ocean,  subterranean  spring,  inland  lake;  in  myriads  of 
things  and  structures  here,  for  want  of  space,  unmentionable — equally 
with  those  produced  by  human  labor  and  invented  by  human  wit,  are 
found  tn  the  marts  of  exchange  throughout  the  civilized  and  uncivil- 
ized world. 

It  is  these  values  in  conjunction  with  the  fictitious  values— the 
latter  made  operative  and  effective  by  custom  and  law—which  give 
power,  financial  and  purchasing  power  in  the  world's  exchanges, 
compared  with  which,  the  values  produced  by  the  "hard  and  true 
work  "  of  human  labor,  are  almost  valueless.  It  is  these  values  in  the 
United  States,  which  first  appear  in  the  hands  of  250,000  employers; 
values,  the  larger  portion  of  which  were  destined  for  the  present  use 
and  benefit  of  50,000,000,  and  the  future  use  of  500,000,000  people. 
It  is  these  values  which  should  annually  pass  from  the  hands  of  250,- 
000  original  owners,  to  the  souls  and  bodies  of  50,000,000  consu- 
mers, through  the  legitimate  eyelets  of  sale  and  purchase.  Following 
a  true  equation  of  exchange,  these  values— natural,  artificial  and  fic- 
titious—should go  back,  through  equable  industrial  circulation,  to  the 
masses,  from  whose  labor  and  from  whose  portion  of  the  common 
heritage  they  were  taken,  in  the  form  of  fee,  salary  and  wages,  and 
constitute  to  the  latter  a  purchasing  power  ample  to  give  every 
man  an  equitable  portion  of  the  common  wealth. 

The  following  figures  show  that  values  do  not  follow  an 
equable  circulation,  or  undergo  an  equitable  distribution.  They 
show  furthermore,  that  an  equitable  distribution  of  national  wealth 
is  impossible,  unless  national  authorities  are  invoked  to  consider, 
inspect,  limit  and  control  the  exactions  which,  under  private  enter- 
prise, in  the  name  of  interest,  rent  and  profit — everywhere  coun- 
tenanced— are  continually  taxing  and  impoverishing  the  employed 
and  producing  masses. 

The  price  at  which  the  commodities  of  the  United  States  were 


HOW    VALUES    PASS    FROM    CAPITALISTS    TO    CONSUMERS.         I3T 

held  for  the  year  1879*  was  $7,554,395,358.  Price  includes  all 
values — the  pure  stuffing  of  fictitious  values,  as  well  as  the  real  worth 
of  natural  and  artificial  values. 

At  the  moment  when  selling  begins,  or  the  moment  previous,  the 
entire  value  here  represented  in  money,  is  in  the  hands  of  employing 
producers;  leaders  of  industry,  capitalists.  They  constitute  the  entire 
purchasing  power  of  the  country  for  a  single  cycle  of  production,  and 
are  in  the  power  of  one  party,  the  employer.  Employed  labor  has 
done  its  work  and  left  the  goods  in  the  hands  of  industrial  leaders, 
but  stands  with  open  hands  ready  to  receive  compensation  in  wages, 
salary  and  fee. 

The  problem  is,  how  is  this  mass  of  values  held  by  employing 
producers  to  pass  legitimately  into  the  hands  of  consumers  ? 

They  must  go  out  either  through  compensation  for  labor  in  form 
of  wages,  salary  and  fee ;  through  foreign  commerce  and  foreign 
purchasing  power;  through  an  extension  of  credit  with  dangers  of 
loss  to  the  seller  and  financial  ruin  to  the  buyer ;  through  private  or 
public  charity,  which  draws  a  purchasing  power  of  the  entire  commu- 
nity either  through  donation  or  taxation,  or  through  the  various 
forms  of  illegal  robbery. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  power  of  compensation  for  labor,  to  draw 
these  values,  through  the  purchasing  power  of  wa^es,  fee  and  salary, 
to  those  who  can  consume  them,  and  whose  wants  if  supplied  at  all, 
must  be  supplied  by  the  commodities  which  embody  them.  The 
complete  facts  are  not  given  in  acceptable  reports,  but  some  factors 
are  known  and  by  a  fair  use  of  those  given,  the  others  may  be  proxi- 
mately reached. 

The  productive  force  of  the  country  in  1879,  is  given  at  17,382,- 
099  persons,  of  whom  250,000  are  estimated  as  pure  employers,  and 
II,  349,584,  as  pure  employees,  leaving  5,782,515,  mixed  employers 
and  employes,  or  those  who  employ  themselves. 

Segregating  to  each  one  of  this  industrial  army  his  average  pro- 
portion of  the  purchasing  power  of  the  total  purchasing  power  of  the 
country — his  portion  of  $7> 5 5 4, 395, 35 8 — gives  each  person  $435 
and  a  fraction. 

Leaving  to  the  self-employers,  constituting  a  class  whose  earnings 
are  most  likely  to  represent  an  average,  $435  to  each  person,  and 
the  5,782,515  will  take  the  sum  of  $2,515,394,025  from  the  total 
purchasing  power  of  the  country,  and  absorb  commodities  of  that 
price. 

By  separating  the  number  of  pure  employers  from  the  pure  em 

*See  census  report  of  1880. 


132  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

ployes,  we  arrive  at  further  facts  and  figures.     The  employers  num- 
ber 250,000  persons,*  the  employes,  11,349,584.  pi|^ii|| 

Statistics  show  that  the  wages  or  purchasing  power  of  6,056,471 
persons,  including  agricultural  and  manufacturing  employes,  is 
$1,695,825,895;  agricultural  laborers  numbering  3,323,876  persons, 
receiving  $747,872*100,  and  manufacturing  laborers  numbering  2,- 
732,595  persons,  receiving  $947,953,795.  The  balance  of  the  em- 
ployes are  distributed  to  the  occupations  of  trade,  transportation, 
mining  and  mechanical  pursuits  and  professional  and  personal  ser- 
vices. A  few  of  these  persons  receive  large  compensation  ;  but  it  is 
reasonable  to  presume  their  income  does  not  exceed  the  average  in- 
come of  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing  employee,  which  is  about 
$280  per  annum.  If  we  allow  that  sum  to  each  employee  other 
than  agricultural  and  manufacturings  we  have  but  to  multiply  280  by 
5,293'!  13,  the  number  of  persons  engaged  in  trade,  transportation, 
mechanical  pursuits,  mining,  professional  and  personal  service, 
to  ascertain  how  much  they  draw  from  the  sum  of  national  purchas- 
ing power.  The  multiplication  gives  $1,482,071,640,  which,  added 
to  $1,695,825,895,  received  by  agricultural  and  manufacturing  la- 
borers, aggregates  $3,i77.897>535>  which  is  paid  to  11,349,284  em- 
ployees, and  constitutes  their  purchasing  pOwer. 

Of  the  total  values  represented  by  $7,554,395,358,  constituting 
the  entire  purchasing  power  of  the  United  States  for  1879,  the  self- 
employers  take  the  sum  of  $2,515,394025,  and  the  employes  the 
sum  of  $3,177,897,535,  leaving  for  the  250,000  employers  $1,861,- 
103,798. 

Stating  the  matter  another  way,  each  pure  employe  secures 
through  compensation  of  wages,  a-  purchasing  power  amounting  to 
$280  per  annum;  each  self-employer  draws  a  purchasing  power  of 
$435  per  year,,  and  each  pure  employer  reserves  for  himself  com- 
modities, a  large  portion  of  which  he  can  not  consume  except 
through  resort  to  a  luxurious  and  vicious  life,  which  it  would  re- 
quire, for  the  year,  a  purchasing  power  of  $7,444  to  draw  from  him. 

It  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  the  average  consuming  capacity, 
irrespective  of  luxuries  and  rich  or  royal  appointment,  is  about  the 
average  purchasing  power;  viz.,  $455  per  annum,  including  the  sup- 
port of  two  dependants  by  each  producer— the  producing  force  being 
17,382,099,  and  the  consuming  population  between  50  and  60  mil- 
lions—we have  11,349,584  persons  existing  below  the  average  con- 
suming capacity  by  the  sum  of  $155  annually,  in  order  that  250,- 
000  may  accumulate  yearly  $7,009,  above  what,  as  average  citizens, 
they  should  consume.  The  small  deficiency  of  $155  annually  dis- 
tributed among    11    or    12  millions,  and  the  large  excess  of  $7,009 

♦Estimated  by  Hon.  S.  S.  Cox;  speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  March  20, 
1884, 


(FOREIGN    MARKET    AND    CREDIT    SYSTEM    DIMINISHES    HOLDINGS.     1 33 

among    250,000,  expresses   in  numbers,  the   poor   condition  of  the 
many  and  the  opulent  condition  of  the  few. 

Through  the  one  channel,  compensation  for  labor,  through  wages, 
fee  and  salary,  the  mass  of  commodities  held  by  industrial  leaders  at 
the  close  of  1879,  represented  by  the  sum  of  $7,554,395,358,  is 
vastly  reduced.  But  an  immense  product  represenled  by  $7,444  Y^t 
remains  for  disposal  by  them  down  to  the  line  of  an  average  con- 
sumption. Put  in  figures,  the  average  consumption  has  been  shown 
to  be  $435  per  annum.  As  pure  employers  consume  more  than 
self-employers— independent  laborers— allow  for  them  a  triple  con- 
sumption, $1,305  per  annum.*  That  gives  $326,250,000,  which, 
subtracted  from  the  commodities  left  them  after  wages  and  salaries 
are  paid,  valued  at  $1,861,103,798,  leaves  commodities  priced  at 
$1,534,853,798  in  their  hands,  without  a  dollar  of  purchasing  power 
to  take  them  up.  To  dispose  of  them — for  they  must  be  disposed 
of,  and  be  turned  into  real  estate,  which  bears  rent,  or  securities 
which  bear  interest,  or  into  new  enterprise  for  profit — resort  is 
had  to  foreign  commerce,  through  which  another  quota  disap- 
pears. The  power  of  foreign  commerce  to  absorb  these  com- 
ijiodities  is  soon  disposed  of ;  its  influence  is  of  small  importance. 
The  exports  of  1879  were  $710,493,441;  imports,  $445j777)775> 
leaving  a  balance  of  exports  amounting  to  $264,661,666  ;  repre- 
senting commodities  which  find  purchasing  power  in  foreign  lands, 
and  relieve  productive  capitalists,  industrial  leaders,  to  that  extent. 
Taking  the  export  balance  of  $264,661,666  from  what  remained  in 
hands  of  employers,  leaves  yet  in  their  possession  commodities  with 
a  price  set  on  them  of  $1,270,192,132.  For  these  goods  no  direct 
purchasing  power  remains,  and  yet,  perishable  as  they  are,  they  must 
be  sold. 

Industrial  leaders,  have  then,  another  resort,  which  is  really  a  sub- 
tifuge,  blunder,  or  crime  against  society;  viz:  the  credit  system. 
Without  a  space  on  earth  where  a  purchasing  power  exists  capable 
of  buying  their  goods  and  giving  them  an  equivalent  in  return,  they 
resort  to  time  for  assistance. 

It  will  be  noted  that  we  are  considering  the  values  involved  in  a 
single  cycle  of  production.   But  other  values  exist  which  have  been 

*Th)s  may  seem  a  small  allowance  for  the  consumption  of  a  capitalist,  but  the  real 
consuming  power  of  a  capitalist  does  not  exceed  that  of  a  laborer;  again,  capitalists 
are  usually  prompted  by  the  animus  of  saving.  Indeed,  according  to  economic 
science,  men  become  capitalists  by  saving;  if  they  possess  no  greater  consuming 
capacity  than  a  laborer,  and  are  more  intensely  prompted  by  the  economic  motive, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  they  really  consume  no  more  than  an  independent  laborer. 
They  do  consume  more;  but  mark  you,  not  until  they  have  accumulated  enough  to 
enable  them  to  live  on  the  labor  of  other  men,  through  the  fictitious  values,  the  ex- 
actions of  rent  and  interest,  which  through  their  purchasing  power,  enforced  by 
•custom  and  law,  draws  eflfectively  on  the  mass  of  constructed  commodities.  So  long 
as  an  industrial  leader  is  concerned  in  accumulation,  through  saving,  that  he  may 
at  a  subsequent  time  live  without  labor,  he  is  likely  to  consume  less  than  a  laborer 
who  expends  his  wages  freely.  Hence,  the  estimate  of  $1,S05  per  annum  for  an  av- 
<erage  industrial  leader  is  superabundant 


134  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

laid  by,  in  land,  houses,  fixtures,  machinery,  furniture,  plate  and 
Other  long-lived  products  which  have  a  purchasing  power  of  un- 
doubted merit,  and  if  those  values — call  them  fixed  values  to 
designate  them — can  be  drawn  into  the  market  by  liens  on  them  for 
goods  bought  on  time,  more  of  that  excess  of  commodities  held  by 
industrial  leaders,  can  be  sold  for  what  is  equivalent  to  cash  ;  better 
than  cash,  as  goods  sold  on  credit  draw  interest  in  one  way  or  an- 
other. Men  with  a  purchasing  power  of  $280  or  $435  per  annum 
readily  take  the  gilded  bait  which  credit  holds  out ;  mortgage  or  sell 
their  previous  accumulations  with  the  belief  that  personal  success  in 
the  future,  will  repay  both  principal  and  interest,  that  excess  of 
purchasing  power  above  their  annual  income,  derived  by  them  from 
credit  extended  by  capitalists. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  to  what  extent,  resort  to  the  credit  system 
relieves  industrial  leaders  of  that  load  of  commodities,  for  which  no 
ample  purchasing  power  of  real  value  exists  ;  but  the  result  to  all 
parties  concerned — sometimes  creditors,  oftentimes  debtors — is  at- 
tested by  the  reports  of  failures  made  through  various  commercial 
agencies.* 

The  credit  system  does  not  actually  increase  the  annual  purchas- 
ing power ;  it  draws,  when  successful,  fully  or  in  part,  on  values 
which  constitute  a  residue  from  the  purchasing  power  of  former 
years ;  when  unsuccessful  in  touching  reserved  values,  it  is  of  no  ad- 
vantage whatever  to  those  promoters  of  industry  who  commence 
their  distribution  of  purchasing  power  valued  at  $7,554,395,358. 

The  extension  of  credit  to  increase  the,  purchasing  power  of  those 
whose  consuming  capacity  is  rarely  filled,  is  the  last  business  resort 
of  industrial  leaders  and  capitalistic  employers  to  dispose  of  their 
goods. 

Incidentally  charity,  public  and  private,  through  gift  and  taxation, 
tend  to  diminish  the  large  mass  which  they  hold  under  their  deliber- 
ate control.  Theft  and  robbery  also  operate  to  increase  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  criminal  element  of  the  community,  but  neither 
charity  nor  robbery  tend  greatly  to  relieve  the  glut  which  industrial 
leaders  impose  upon  themselves  and  on  society,  by  their  accumu- 
lative exactions. 

We  have  been  considering  the  operations  of  a  single  year — 1879 
— and  find  that  promotors  of  industrial  enterprise,  so  selfishly  man- 
age the  entire  purchasing  power  of  the  nation,  that  many  of  their 
goods  produced  in  the  one  cycle,  must  remain  in  their  hands  un- 
sold ;  goods,  pot  considering  those  sold  on  credit,  or  given  in  charity, 
or  lost  by  robbery,  aggregating  a  valuation  of  $1,270,192,152,  for 


*These  failures  aggreg:ated  in  1882— an  intense  activity  having  characterized  the  years  1879,. 
'80  and  '81— $131,547,564 ;  in  1S83,  $172,874,172,  and  in  1881,  $226,343,427.  Report  of  R.  G. 
Dun  &  Co. 


CAPITALISTS    RESPONSIBLE    FOR    DEFICIENT    PURCHASING    POWER.     1 35 

which  consuming  capacity  is  ample,  but  for   which   no   purchasing 
power  exists. 

We  have  seen  that  the  absence  of  ample  purchasing  power  is  at- 
tributable to  their  own  selfish  and  shortsighted  greed  ;  we  know  that 
other  years — 1880,  1881 — must  increase,  did  increase  this  excess  of 
commodities ;  we  know  that  to  sustain  this  senseless  and  un- 
justifiable rapacity,  affording  a  few,  through  extraordinary  exigencies, 
the  opportunities  of  accumulating  vast  fortunes,  a  rigid  adherence 
to  the  principle  of  sale  for  profit  is  maintained  ;  and  we  know  that 
when  goods  cannot,  to  secure  selfish  and  greedy  ends,  be  sold  for 
what  is  recognized  as  profit,  production  is  brought  to  a  disastrous 
standstill^  and  increase  of  wealth  which  should  be  constant,  is 
arrested,  and  poverty  wide  spread,  extends  its  gloomy  and  unsatis- 
factory pall  over  the  life  of  the  nation. 

It  is  thus  conclusively  demonstrated  by  theory,  fact  and  figure,  that 
the  onus  of  blame  for  this  condition  of  national  industrial  affairs,  that 
for  continued  limitation  and  periodical  cessation  of  wealth — pro- 
duction, and  its  miserable  and  baleful  results  upon  the  masses  of 
population,  industrial  leaders,  capitalists,  are  responsible. 


13^  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIOKS. 

REMEDIES. 

CHAPTER  VI.,  SECTION  VI. 

It  may  not  be  logical  to  consider  remedies  unless  there  be  a 
disease. 

In  one  sense,  the  largest,  grandest  sense  conceivable,  industrial 
life  is  an  organizing  movement ;  an  evolution  through  and  upon  the 
materials  of  which,  the  forces  are  playing  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos, 
perfection  out  of  imperfection,  maturity  out  of  immaturity.  As  a 
whole,  it  is  not  a  disease.  But  as  these  forces  press,  now  here,  now 
there,  with  disastrous  results  upon  large  surfaces  of  the  growing  body — 
the  composite  social  organization — causing  misery  and  degredation 
to  those  who  suffer  the  friction  incident  to  the  general  advance,  dis- 
ease is  affirmed  and  remedies  are  logically  sought. 

As  regards  the  remedies  or  modes  of  proceedure  to  be  under- 
taken in  the  premises,  it  has  been  shown  that  all  production  is  co- 
operative, and  all  distribution  is  competitive ;  in  other  words,  that 
capitalists  and  laborers,  peacefully  combine  while  producing  the 
world's  wealth,  and  fiercely  struggle — capitalist  against  capitalist  and 
laborer  against  laborer,  capitalist  against  laborer,  and  laborer 
against  capitalist — each  to  secure  for  himself  and  his  class,  the  larg- 
est possible  results  of  production  for  the  least  possible  expenditure 
of  effort  or  value.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  present  industrial  system, 
in  its  orderly  evolution,  is  straddling  the  fence  of  the  present  with 
the  foot  of  co-operation,  progressive,  in  advance,  and  competition, 
conservative,  retarding  a  rapid  and  complete  evolution ;  that  before 
the  industrial  factors  can  properly  reach  the  perfection  of  a  system^ 
industrial  operations  must  become  all  co-operative  or  competittve ; 
that  if  production  remains  co-operative,  distribution  and  consumption 
must  also  gradually  advance  to  the  co-operative  stage,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  if  distribution  remains  colored  and  characterized  by  the 
struggles  of  competition,  then  to  secure  harmonious  action  of  the 
underlying  forces,  production  must  return 'to  its  primitive  and  com- 
petitive phase. 

It  may  be  asserted  at  once,  without  fear  of  successful  contradic- 
tion, that  the  present  momentum  of  an  orderly  evolution,  unless  so- 
ciety through  some  inconceivable  catastrophy  be  relegated  to  its 
original  chaotic  conditions,  precludes  the  possibility  of  return  to 
primitive  methods  and  results.  Forward  movement  is  alone  at- 
tainable. The  distribution  of  the  world's  commodities,  equally  and 
unreservedly  with  their  production,  must  come  under  the  ameliorat- 
ing influence  of  the   co-operative  principle.     The   boys   of  the  in- 


CO-OPERATIVE    DISTRIBUTION    A    NECESSARY    OUTCOME.  I37 

dustrial  world  who  have  so  long  co-operated  in  the  construction  of 
tops,  marbles  and  tin  whistles,  and  struggled  through  the  productive 
forces  and  appliances  of  exchange,  to  determine  by  industrial  forces 
who  shall  own  the  products  of  joint  labor,  must  make  a  new  de- 
parture in  distributing  their  commodities  ;  must  co-operatively  assign 
to  each  according  to  his  natural  interest  in  the  common  heritage 
and  according  to  the  results  of  his  labor. 

'I'he  comprehensive  remedy  to  be  applied  to  evolve  harmony 
from  anarchy,  justice  from  injustice  involves  some  acceptable  method 
of  introducing  and  perfecting  co-operative  distribution. 

What  is  co-operative  distribution  ? 

If  ten  men,  having  secured  equal  values  from  the  common  herit- 
age, place  those  values  into  a  common  pool,  and  co-operate  in  pro- 
ducing commodities  estimated  at  one  thousand  dollars,  and  the  re- 
sult of  each  man's  labor  equals  the  result  of  every  other  man's  labor, 
co-operative  distribution  would  assign  to  each  man  commodities  of 
the  pure  or  market  value  of  one  hundred  dollars.  This  statement 
modified  indefinitely  by  the  real  values  taken  from  the  common 
heritage,  and  the  real  results  achieved  by  each  man's  labor  will  con- 
stitute an  equitable  formula  to  be  used  in  working  out  and  practi- 
calizing  the  problems  of  co-operative  distribution. 

I'his  formula  involves  the  elimination  of  all  false  or  fictitious  val- 
ues ;  of  rent,  interest  and  profit,  and  an  equitable  distribution  of  all 
real  values  ;  values  produced  by  labor  creative  and  human. 

A  similar  conclusion  is  reached,  in  part,  by  inference  from  the  po- 
sition reached  in  a  previous  section  ;  viz  :  that  whereas  accumula- 
tions through  profit,  interest  and  rent,  tend  to  aggregate  the  purchas- 
ing power  of  a  nation  into  the  possession  of  a  few  persons,  and  thus 
impair  or  destroy  the  purchasing  power  of  millions,  the  elimination 
of  profit,  rent  and  interest,  would  result  in  effecting  its  comparative- 
ly equitable  distribution  ;  the  increase  of  wealth  and  elimination  of 
poverty.  From  whatever  standpoint  we  consider  efficient  remedies,  they 
lead,  of  necessity,  to  the  simple  proposition  of  a  co-operative  and 
equitable  distribution  of  the  world's  wealth  to  the  world's  workers. 

But  the  acquirement  of  this  trinity  of  fictitious  values,  which,  ac- 
cumulated in  quantities  sufficient,  and  embodied  in  money,  bonds 
and  mortgages,  enable  men  to  live,  as  it  has  become  the  ambition 
of  most  men  to  live,  without  labor,  on  the  labor  or  from  the  heritage 
of  other  men,  constitutes  the  end  and  motive  of  modern  industrial 
life  ;  an  end  intimately  associated  with,  perhaps  inseperable  from, 
private  individual  enterprise. 

Private  enterprise,  which,  in  the  main  dominates  the  indus- 
trial world,  risen  on  the  downfall  of  chattle  slavery,  and  emanated 
from  the  new  life  of  the  former  slave,  regards  directly  only  the  well- 
being   and   prosperity  of  the  individual.     The  other,  or  next  man, 


138  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF   NATIONS. 

whether  he  be  employee,  patron  or  competitor,  is  used  in  one  way 
or  another  to  subserve  the  interests  and  enterprises  of  the  individ- 
ual. 

The  result  has  been  that  the  prior  and  the  powerful,  disregarding 
fundamental  equities,  have  continually  advanced  themselves  through 
exactions  upon  those  born  or  developed  later  and  feebler,  have  at- 
tained, through  the  mature  intellectual  faculties  with  which  they 
were  endowed,  and  through  siezure  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  ap- 
pliances of  production,  exclusive  and  controling  leadership  of  the 
worlds  industrial  affairs.  They  have  begun  a  nd  prosecuted  their 
undertakings  as  individuals  ;  the  entire  end  of  their  enterprises  hav- 
ing been  the  fullest  supply  of  their  own  wants  and  satisfaction  of 
their  own  desires,  caprices  and  passions.  Their  own  wants  of  the 
most  common  order  having  been  satisfied,  production  has  not  been 
enlarged  and  extended  over  the  similar  wants  of  others,  but  to  the 
establishment  of  luxurious  indulgence,  rich  and  expensive  dress, 
costly  furnishings  and  extravagant  equippage.  The  earth  and  its 
natural  wealth,  society  and  its  organized  developments,  have  been 
appropriated  for  all  time,  as  if  created  only  for  the  satisfaction  and 
prosperity  of  a  prior  and  favored  few.  The  end  of  production  has 
been  too  limited.  Labor  of  the  masses,  through  exclusion  from  the 
sources  of  wealth  and  means  of  production,  has  been  forced  from 
them  for  mere  subsistence.*  The  wants  of  manuel  laborers  have 
received  but  incidental  consideration.  Supposed  to  hold  the  power  of 
private  contract,  which,  through  the  violent  operation  of  previous  ex- 
clusion from  their  interest  in  the  commoi?  heritage,  rarely  embodies 
or  ensures  to  them  a  modicum  of  substantial  justice,  they  have  been 
left  to  shift  for  and  content  themselves  with  the  possibilities,  rather 
than  the  equities. 

To  secure  amenity  from  the  disastrious  results  which  are  falling 
upon  impoverished  millions,  through  the  prevalence  of  individual 
enterprise,  the  end  and  scope  of  production  must  be  so  enlarged  as  to 
include  directly ^  distinctly  and  definitely^  the  rational  and  equitable 
wants  of  every  citizen. 

Keeping  in  view  this  broad  generalization,  better  results  in  every 
way  may  be  reached,  not  only  for  the  individual  untis,  but  for  the 
nation  as  an  organizing  body.  Through  enlargement  of  the  end 
and  scope  of  production,  national  wealth  may  be  increased  indefi- 
nately,  and  poverty  greatly  diminished  or  eliminated. 

To  foil  the  force  of  this  proposition,  it  may  be  asserted  that  al- 
ready it  is  the  object  of  private  enterprise  to  supply  all  want;  that 
employers  and  leaders  of  industry  undertake  and  prosecute  their 
enterprises  for  the  benefit  of  employes  and  the  patronizing  community. 

*The  econimic  law  of  wages  is  subsistence— suppose  the  same  compensation  was  meted  out 
inbusirial  leaders. 


ENLARGEMENT    OF    THE    END    OF    PRODLXTION    REQUIRED  1 39 

On  first  blush  this  assertion  seems  to  be  true ;  in  rare  instances, 
may  be  true.  That  every  thought  and  artifice  is  put  under  contri- 
bution to  adopt  commodities  to  the  wants  of  consumers,  cannot  be 
doubted ;  but  usually  the  extreme  efforts  made  to  adapt  products 
with  exactitude  to  the  details  of  want,  are  made  for  the  subjective 
purpose  of  displacing  competitors  and  securing  their  patronage  and 
profit ;  supply  of  want  and  patronage  being  sought  and  prosecuted 
only  so  long  as  profit  is  attainable.  When  purchasing  power  of  pat- 
ron is  exhausted,  though  his  wants  are  imperative,  production  for  his 
interest  is  declined;  the  poorer  the  consumer  becomes  the  more  in- 
tensely he  wants,  the  more  absolutely  are  his  wants  neglected.  At 
all  times  they  are  merely  contingent,  secondary,  accessory  to  the 
prime  motive  of  private  enterprise,  which  is  individual  gain. 

Co-operative  distribution  to  be  inaugurated,  the  end  and  scope 
of  production  must  be  so  enlarged  and  utilized,  as  not  only  to  in- 
clude the  wants,  but  to  impress  the  labor  of  all  responsible  citizens. 
It  matters  not  how  long  the  movement  to  this  ideal  may  require — it 
must  come. 

This  status  is  achievable  through  one  of  three  distinct  and  suc- 
cessive modes  or  processes  ;  or  more  probably  it  may  be  realized  to 
the  nation  through  their  combined,  mutually  supportive  operation, 
or  through  a  gradual  industrial  evolution  from  the  first  through  the 
second  to  the  third. 

Jiirst — Industrial  leaders,  by  common  consent  and  concerted 
action,  may  abandon  narrow  and  selfish  ends,  and  irrespective  of 
gain  to  themselves,  holding  control  of  the  only  means  of  employ- 
ment, will  furnish  permanent  occupation  to  each  laborer,  with  pur- 
chasing power  adequate  to  supply  the  wants  of  every  citizen.  In 
their  hands,  utility,  not  only  to  themselves,  but  to  others,  may  dis- 
tinctly impress  their  purposes  and  displace  as  a  motive  the  present 
exclusive  selfishness. 

Second — The  exactions  of  capitalists,  in  forms  of  interest,  rent 
and  profit,  may  be  limited  or  eliminated  by  the  power  of  society, 
operating  along  the  line  of  control,  through  the  machinery  of  gov- 
ernment. The  tendency  of  such  measures  is  to  limit'  the  extent  and 
scope  of  those  exactions  which  the  complete  license  of  private  en 
terprise  permits.  It  is  merely  palliative  as  it  cannot  touch  or  deter- 
mine the  motive  of  industrial  leaders  ;  cannot  enlarge  the  scope  of 
their  purposes. 

Third — Whatever  is  not  achievable  through  the  first  and  second 
plans,  devices  or  instrumentalities,  will  needs  be  undertaken  by  the 
third;  viz.,  displacement  of  present  in(Justrial  leaders  from  positions, 
powers  and  responsibilities  which  they  have  ignorantly,  carelessly 
or  viciously  subverted  from  their  better  uses,  and  prostituted  to  pri- 
vate and  selfish  ends.     In  other  words  private  enterprise,  through  a 


140  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS 

considerate  and  progressive  movement,  must  give  a  place  to  public 
enterprise,  whose  end,  theoretically  and  practically,  includes  and  em- 
bodies the  welfare  and  equal  advantage  of  every  citizen. 

These  three  devices  or  instrumentalities  for  affecting  an  ample  en- 
largement of  the  ends  and  scope  of  productive  activity,  a  scope 
which  will  include  the  economic — and  indirectly,  the  moral,  political 
and  civil — welfare  of  the  entire  population,  will  be  cursorily  dis- 
cussed in  detail. 

Pirst,  as  to  the  desired  end  of  enlargement,  what  is  to  be  ex- 
pected nom  the  industrial  forces  disposed  and  operated  throughout 
the  civilized  world,  as  they  are  at  present?  Can,  will  private  enter- 
prise, conducted  by  a  small  minority  of  the  people  for  their  own 
direct  advantage,  give  that  fullness  of  scope  to  their  operations  which 
the  wants  of  all  demand  ? 

The  requisite  change  in  the  attitude  of  industrial  leaders  regard- 
ing the  interests  of  their  fellows,  involves  a  marked  change  of  dis- 
position and  character ;  a  change  from  exclusive  selfishness  to  in- 
clusive selfishness.  No  man  or  class  of  men  can  become  oblivious 
of  self.  The  highest  ideal  maintains  self-care  but  includes  all  others 
in  the  same  privileges  and  enjoyments.  Desire  to  supply  the  wants 
of  mankind  with  the  various  commodities,  which  through  an  ad- 
vanced civilization  are  requisite  to  comfort  and  development,  should 
supercede  that  excessive  desire  of  personal  gain  which  excludes 
others  from  like  uses  and  commodities.  Attainment  to  this  high 
ideal  of  industrial  motive  may  be  facilitated  by  recognizing  the 
truth — that  no  man  made  himself  before,  better  br  stronger  than  other 
men  ;  that  his  superior  faculties,  if  he  possess  them,  are  but  endow- 
ments from  a  higher  Source,  and  no  right  inheres  to  exericse  them 
in  exclusion  of  fellows  from  enjoyment  of  their  natural  rights.  The 
further  truths,  that  all  men  alike  are  equitable  inheritors  of  the  nat- 
ural values  brought  into  existence  by  creative  labor,  and  that  each 
man,  irrespective  of  the  existing  inequitable  system  of  private  ci»n- 
tracts,  is  justly  entitled  to  the  further  values  created  by  his  own  labor, 
should  also  tend  to  inspire  capitalisrs  with  a  noble  and  tender  re- 
gard for  the  rights  and  interests  of  their  fellows. 

But  surrounded  and  engulfed  in  the  surging  tides  of  the  compet- 
itive struggle  for  the  results  of  production,  now  tossing  the  industrial 
world,  are  industrial  leaders  likely  to,  can  they  forget  their  moment- 
ary interests  and  consider  a  proposition  calculated  for  the  benefit  of 
others,  and  real  or  seemmg  disadvantage  to  themselves  ? 

Are  they  likely  to,  is  it  possible  for  them  to  believe  that  their  su- 
perior endowments  were  given  them  for  the  purposes  of  a  leader- 
ship involving  sacrifice  of  their  most  intense  hopes  and  fascinating 
ambitions?  History  furnishes  few  or  no  affirmative  illustrations 
wherein  those  occupying  positions  of  vantage  and    power,  have   vol- 


NARROW    ENDS    OF    PRIVATE    ENTERPRISF.  I4I 

untarily  placed  others  on  the  seat  of  vantage  and  power  beside 
them.  The  strong  individuality  of  human  nature  is  opposed  to  such 
a  movement.  Power  is  drawn  from  the  hands  of  the  selfish  and 
tyrannical  only  by  application  of  opposing  power,  grown  powerful 
through  stimulus  of  unredressed  wrongs. 

•As   motive    precedes   all   thought  and  action,  consideration  as  to 
the  voluntary  acts  of  capitalists  toward  an  enlargement  of  the  end 
and  scope  of  production,  might   be  at  once    dropped.     It  may  be 
assumed,  at  once,  that  private  enterprise  will    do   little    or   nothing 
through   the    activities    of  industrial   life   toward   the  ameliorations 
needed.     Indirectly,  through  public  and  private  charities,  through 
taxation    and    donation,  it   will    contribute    liberally    to  soften  and 
ameliorate  the  severest  phases  of  hard  existence  produced  by  its  own 
exactions ;  but  little  or  nothing  to  remove  or  abate  the  causes,  the 
most  important  of  which  it  controls  and  prom.otes.     It  will  not   re- 
mit its    own  opportunities  for  self-agrandizement  that  the  mass  of 
mankind,  themselves  among  the   number,  may  come  jjinto  unasked 
and    independent   enjoyment   of  the   nutritive   instrumentalities    of 
of  civilized  life.     This  proposition  is  asserted,  of   private   enterprise 
as  a  whole  ;  because,  though  it  may  number  among  its  leaders  men 
,  of  the  widest  sympathies  with,  and  highest  asperations  for  the  welfare 
of  the  race  as  a  race,  the  principle  drift  of  its  motive  leaves  every 
man,  regardless  of  conditions,  to  struggle  out  his  own  life  unaided 
and  alone.     This  is  the  cruel  logic  of  its  existence,  and  the  relent- 
less determination   of  its  activity ;  logic  and  determination,  the  in- 
humane results  of  which  are  modified  or  assuaged,    alone  by  the 
warm  pulses  of  a  growing  human  sympathy. 

Suppose,  however,  the  motive  of  the  vast  majority  of  industrial 
leaders,  operating  through  dominant  laws  and  cusroms,  to  be  ex- 
panded to  include  the  welfare  of  every  citizen ;  what,  in  the  nature 
and  conditions  of  private  enterprise,  must  be  modified  or  overcome? 
If  capitalists  were  to  make  the  end  of  productive  operation, 
adequate  supply  to  the  reasonable  wants  of  all,  the  majority  must 
be  able  to  control  the  action  of  the  minority.  Unanimity  of  action 
voluntary  or  enforced  would  be  found  to  be  indispensible.  Indus- 
trial combinations  must  not  only  operate  in  harmony,  but  in  the 
midst  of  competitive  distribution,  must  include  all  pure  employers, 
individual  and  corporate.  A  small  minority  of  those  who  promote 
and  manage  industrial  affairs,  operating  on  an  independent  basis  and 
antagonizing  the  co-operative  efforts  of  the  majority,  would  impair 
or  destroy  the  more  beneficent  purposes  and  achievements  of  the 
majority. 

A  general  belief  exists  in  the  effectiveness  of  isolated  schemes  of 
co-operative  industry  ;  industry  combining  both  production  and  dis- 
tribution.    It  is  a  mistaken  belief.     Such  enterprises  affect  favorably 


142  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

only  those  included  within  the  scope  of  their  operations  ;  while  they 
tend,  like  isolated  individuals  competing  against  each  other,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  power  and  scope  of  the  co-operative  combination,  to 
make  the  competitive  struggle  more  fierce  and  destructive. 

The  co-operative  societies  of  England,  including  but  a  portion  of 
the  workers  in  a  given  commodity,  have  grown  within  a  half  century 
to  enormous  proportions,  benefitting,  it  is  alleged,  the  immediate  par- 
ticipants, but  carrying  the  non-participants  to  lower  levels  of  poverty 
and  degredation.  The  struggle  of  isolated  co-operative  organizations 
against  each  other  for  the  patronage  of  the  public,  is  like  the  struggle 
of  Titan  against  Titan.  It  is  only  competition,  concentrated,  deep- 
ened, intensified.  The  number  of  units  is  diminished,  but  the 
power  is  increased. 

If  the  hatters  of  America  disassociated  from  capitalists,  were 
combined  in  a  dozen  organizations,  each  competing  against  all  others 
for  patronage,  the  competitive  struggle  would  be  more  intense  than 
now,  conducted  as  is  the  hat  business,  by  isolated  individuals  and 
co-partnerships.  Prices  of  labor  and  goods  would  be  lower;  but 
if  all  hatters  were  combined  under  one  organization,  and  secured 
against  foreign  competition  by  a  protective  tariff,  prices  could  be  ad- 
vanced to  the  satisfaction  of  all  hatters.  So  long  as  a  single  hatter 
struggles  against  the  balance,  or  a  single  combination  competes  with  ' 
all  other  hatters  combined,  the  majority  are  at  the  mercy  of  the 
small  minority.  The  same  principle  governs  the  competition  and 
co-operation  of  capitalists  in  their  own  sphere  of  action. 

Industrial  leaders — capitalists — must  be  able  to  include  all  com- 
petitors under  a  single  combination,  or  they  can  accomplish  little 
toward  raising  the  price  of  given  commodities  and  the  wages  of  the 
labor  through  the  efficiency  of  which  they  are  produced  ;  otherwise 
they  must  fail  to  inaugurate  co-operative  distribution,  and  supply 
to  the  wants  of  every  citizen,  by  dispensing  an  adequate  purchasing 
power. 

But  let  us  carry  this  query  a  little  further.  Let  us  suppose,  not 
only  the  disposition  but  the  ability  of  capitalists  to  combine  all  pro- 
ducers of  a  given  commodity — ultim.ately  of  all  commodities — in  a 
vast  national-co-operative  scheme.  Provided  the  end  of  production 
remains  as  now,  what  beneficent  results  may  ensue,  and  who  will 
reap  them  ?     What  results  of  disaster  will  follow,  and  who  will  suffer  ? 

On  one  hand  cessation  of  competition  among  employers  and  leaders 
of  industry,  advance  of  prices  to  consumers,  freedom  from  fear  of  loss, 
and  certainty  of  increased  gain  to  members  of  the  guild,  and  in- 
creased purchasing  power  to  employers.  Second,  possibly,  increased 
wages  and  enlarged  purchasing  powers  to  employees.  These  two 
active  classes  may  realize  satisfactory  benefits. 

On  the  other  hand,  consumers  must  needs,  through  the-  co-opera- 


PRIVATE    ENTERPRISE    MUST    BE    SUPPLEMENTAL.  1 43 

live  success  of  employers  and  employes  become  the  victims  of 
a  nationalized  monopoly.  Increase  of  price  to  consumers,  who 
constitute  the  vast  majority  of  the  population;  impairment  or  des- 
truction of  their  purchasing  power. 

It  appears  then — to  sum  up  this  point  on  the  foregoing  hypothesis 
— that  while  a  full  and  efficient  combination  of  the  forces  engaged 
in  producing  a  given  commodity — for  instance,  hats  or  boots — will 
tend  to  advance  the  purchasing  power  of  previously  competitive 
employers  and  employes,  it  will  tend  to  decrease  the  purchasing 
power  of  a  vast  mass  of  consumers ;  and  that  too,  regardless  of  the 
former  purchasing  power  of  any  of  these  parties^employers,  em- 
ployes and  consumers — in  interest,  or  the  previous  relations  of  that 
purchasing  power  to  its  consuming  capacity. 

Hence,  private  enterprise,  combined  to  its  fullest  productive  ca- 
pacity, does  not  meet  the  requirement  of  the  times ;  for  while  it 
builds  up  and  gives  larger  purchasing  power — in  cases  too,  where  it 
was  inequitably  large — to  those  embraced  in  the  productive  com- 
bination it  brings  disaster  to,  and  impairs  or  destroys  purchasing 
power — in  cases  too  where  purchasing  power  is  already  exhausted — 
of  a  vast  mass  of  consumers.  It  is  evident  that  current  reliance  on 
the  real  or  possible  beneficence  of  private  enterprise  is  unjustified 
by  the  facts  and  the  operation  of  the  forces. 

Leaving  the  motive  of  private  enterprise — ^viz.,  production  for 
gain  rather  than  use — unmolested,  it  may  be  assumed  that  a  com- 
plete combination  on  the  part  of  employers  engaged  in  the  produc- 
tion of  a  given  commodity — such  combinations  as  are  in  continued 
process  of  formation — would  result  disastrously  to  other  social  fac- 
tions. Not  only  would  consuaiers  be  fleeced  to  the  utmost  of  their 
purchasing  power,  but  generally  employes  and  the  producers  of  raw 
material  and  machinery  would  be  compensated  only  to  the  line  of 
possible  existence.  Increased  knowledge  and  renewed  activity  of 
employes  to  secure  higher  wages,  and  the  jealousy  of  consumers  to 
secure  lower  prices,  are  the  only  warrant  that  serious  catastrophies 
of  the  like  referred  to,  would  be  averted. 

But  private  enterprise,  to  promote  effectually  the  economic  well 
being  of  every  citizen,  must  advance  to  and  assume  another  power 
or  prerogative  which  its  very  nature  antagonizes  ;  it  must  acquire  the 
authority  and  power  to  hold  the  prroductive  factors  to  harmonious 
and  increasing  production,  without  at  the  same  time,  perpetuating  un- 
supplied  want,  unworthy  dependence  and  poverty. 

A  complete  organization  of  industrial  leaders  under  the  provisions 
of  private  enterprise  and  an  enlightened  public  sentiment,  leaves  all 
employes  ostensibly  in  full  personal  freedom.  It  is,  ho -a- ever,  more 
apparent  than  real.  It  is  the  common  sentiment  and  expression  of 
the  times,  that  free  men  may  labor  or  not  labor,  as  they  choose.     It 


144  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

is  a  generally  believed  and  promulgated  fact,  that  employers  should 
and  do  assert  no  right  to  force  employes  to  expend  their  labor  on 
productive  enterprises  which  the  former  are  conducting.  It  is  fur- 
ther generally  believed  that  employers  should  and  do  exercise  no 
such  power  over  the  so-called  laboring  portion  of  the  community. 
If  it  were  generally  known  that  they  do  so,  the  generous  and  liberal 
sentiment  of  the  age  would  be  shocked.  '  * 

To  both  of  these  general  beliefs  a  denial  must  be  entered. 
That  a  right  and  power  should  somewhere  exist  to  compel  indolent, 
poor  or  rich,  to  perform  a  reasonable  amount  of  labor,  the  indepen- 
dence and  freedom  of  the  individual,  and  the  interests  of  society 
demand.  That,  in  private  enterprise,  it  does  not  exist  in  ample 
efficiency,  is  evidence  that  society  is  not  yet  organized ;  that  it  comes 
yek  far  sh6rt  of  that  evolutionized  perfection  which  is  its  destiny. 
While  law  prevents — as  it  should  do — the  exercise  of  physical  force  by 
one  individual  over  another,  by  one  class  over  another,  its  own  existence 
and  operation  is  evidence  of  the  truth  that  society  justly  claims  and 
should  maintain  the  right  to  determine  the  movement  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  limits  of  his  freedom.  It  is  evident  that  ample 
power  to  control  the  industrial  movements  of  the  individual  lies  only 
in  organized  society.  First,  openly  and  directly,  the  individual  does 
not  attempt  to  control  the  labor  of  another  ;  second,  but  covertly 
and  indirectly  he  makes  perpetual  attempt,  and  with  limited  success. 

Neither  law  nor  public  sentiment  sanctions  an  interference  with 
personal  freedom,  fraught  with  the  semblance  of  chattel  slavery. 

Private  enterprise,  even  though  it  be  fully  organized  as  to  the  em- 
ploying class,  is  compelled  to  permit  every  man  and  all  masses  of 
men,  regardless  of  the  interests  of  the  community  to  be  accommo- 
dated by  the  joint  labor  of  employers  and  employes ;  to  work  or 
not  to  work,  according  to  the  individual  choice.  Under  present 
conditions  an  employer  may  close  his  works  at  any  time  ;  an  em- 
ploye may  quit  his  work  at  any  time  ;  both  disregarding  the  wants 
of  the  community,  whose  wants  it  is  their  self-chosen  duty  jointly  to 
supply. 

Through  this  loose-jointed,  half  organized  condition,  of  which  the 
present  generation  is  too  universally  proud,  patrons  of  all  forms  of 
commodity  are  continually  subjected  to  various  degrees  and  phases 
of  inconvenience. 

Solutions  of  industrial  continuity  which  manifest  themselves  in 
the  form  of  strikes  and  boycotts  on  one  part,  lockouts  and  black- 
listing on  another,  and  losses  of  accommodation  and  supply  on  the 
third,  perpetually  fret  the  peaceful  ongoings  of  natural  life.  Disagree- 
ments of  employers  and  employes,  the  unbearable  tyranny  of  rings 
and  combinations  on  the  one  side,  and  unconsidered  demands  and 
badly  managed  strikes  on  the  other  continually  baffle  the  calcula- 


INDUSTRIAL    CONTINUITY    BROKEN    BY    STRIKES    LOCKOUTS.       I45 

tions,  destroy  the  continuity  and  mar  the  symmetrical  life  and  com- 
fort of  the  body  of  consumers. 

Private  enterprise  has  no  conceded  right  or  adequate  power  of 
interference  or  control  to  protect  the  interests  of  a  consuming  com- 
munity against  the  withdrawal  of  either  party  to  industrial  effort  ; 
it  cannot  assure  uninterrupted  continuity  of  supply  to  average  pur- 
chasing power.  Strikes  and  lockouts  result  in  want,  loss  and  des- 
truction, not  only  to  employers  and  employes,  but  great  inconven- 
ience and  distress  to  thousands,  yes,  millions  of  irresponsible  and 
dependent  patrons  and  consumers. 

The  strike  of  the  Brooklyn  horse-car  employes,  on  Christmas  day 
1886,  threatened  to  disturb  the  calculations  and  convenience  of 
two  or  three  hundred  thousand  people,  a  part  of  whose  daily  life  it 
was  to  rely  upon  that  private  corporation  for  transportation. 

For  weeks,  the  refusal  of  the  Geary  and  Sutter  street  railway  com- 
panies, of  San  Francisco,  to  pay  a  small  advance  on  previous  wages, 
discommoded,  in  various  ways  and  degrees,  more  than  fifty  thou- 
thousand  people.  No  power  lay  in  the  hands  of  these  private 
corporations  to  compel  competent  men  to  perform  the  necessary 
labor  at  the  wages  offered,  and  the  employes  who  were  competent, 
and  who  deemed  themselves  insufficiently  remunerated,  held  no 
power  to  compel  the  paym'ent  of  these  demands.  A  struggle  en- 
sued which  broke  the  continuity  of  the  joint  industry  and  disturbed 
for  weeks,  the  usual  tranquil  life  of  the  entire  city. 

Another  strike  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  commencing  with  a  demon- 
stration on  the  part  of  coal  companies,  to  reduce  the  wages  of  em- 
ployes to  starvation  point,  disturbed  the  peaceful  industries,  uses  and 
accommodations  of  an  immense  population. 

It  passed  from  organization  to  organization  until  50,000  men  had 
quit  work.  The  manufacturing  and  commercial  operations  of  20,- 
000,000  people  were  interrupted.  Indirectly  the  industries  of  two 
continents  were  affected.  These  solutions  of  industrial  continuity, 
incident  to  private  enterprise,  are  likely  at  any  moment,  through  the 
inherent  antagonism  of  industrial  factors,  to  be  precipitated  upon 
the  peaceful  and  regular  life  of  all  nations ;  solutions  and  disturb- 
ances, the  baneful  effects  of  which,  it  possesses  no  adequate  power  to 
avert.  Jts  principal  means  of  holding  the  industrial  world  to  har- 
monious and  continuous  activi|y — i.  e.,  private  contract — it  impairs 
and  perverts  through  its  habitual  disregard  for  the  rights  and  inter- 
ests of  others.  Conducted  to  the  end  of  personal  greed,  reckless  of 
even-handed  justice,  and  rigidly  administered  to  its  logical  results, 
through  incessant  conflicts  for  the  results  of  production — through 
strikes  and  lockouts — it  is  destined,  so  long  as  it  dominates  indus- 
trial life,  frequently  to  perturb  and  distress  the  society  it  serves,  to  its 
extremest  confines* 


146  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

PRIVATE  ENTERPRISE  OPERATING  FROxM 
ITS  OWN"  MOTIVES  AND  UNDER  ITS 
OWN  CONTROL.    , 

CHAPTER  VI.,  SECTION  VII. 

l^ut  while  private  enterprise  possesses  no  recognized  right  to  con- 
trol the  employee,  or  coerce  him  into  involuntary  labor,  it  covertly 
and  indirectly  surrounds  him  by  environments  and  conditions  which 
constitute  a  cordon  of  painful  and  irresistible  impressment. 

It  attempts  to  maintain  its  power  and  prestige  through  measures 
whose  pernicious  results  on  human  society,  as  contrasted  with  the 
results  of  perpetual  conflicts  between  employer  and  employee,  are 
replete  with  disaster  and  misery  to  the  civilized  world;  more  disas- 
trous than  the  difficulties  to  be  remedied  thereby.  Industrial  man- 
agers recognize  the  desirability  of  conducting  industrial  affairs  with- 
out solution  of  their  continuity,  and  warrant  themselves  in  the  ex- 
ecution of  any  measures  which  will  make  production  continuous. 

The  measure  they  find  most  effective  is  the  promotion  of 
-want,  poverty  or  starvation,  or  the  fear  of  that  misery  which  comes 
therefrom.  Poverty,  or  fear  of  poverty  and  its  attendant  misery  is 
promoted  and  enforced  by  maintaining  without  sustaining  a  large 
maigin  of  unemployed  men  and  women,  who,  hungry  and  naked, 
'hanging  on  the  ragged  verge  of  want,  are  ready,  under  the  force  of 
perpetuated  necessities,  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  at  any  compensa- 
tion offered,  to  step  forward  and  perform,  as  best  they  may,  the  labor 
voluntarily  dropped  by  others  ;  dropped  because  too  meagerly  com- 
pensated for  services  to  satisfy  either  their  wants  or  their  sense  of 
justice.  This  unemployed  force,  including  all  not  actively  engaged  in 
production — on  one  hand  the  pampered  pioteges  of  wealth,  on  the 
other,  vast  masses  too  poor  to  employ  themselves,  dependent  on  odd 
jobs  of  work  here  and  there  and  then,  on  charity,  public  or  private, 
■  on  the  commission  of  crime  to  secure  food  and  shelter  from  public 
funds,  on  tramping,  beggary,  theft  and  robbery,  which  always  bring 
;  but  the  most  meager  and  precarious  subsistance — is  the  efficient  and 
indispensable  buttress  of  private  enterprise;  a  buttress,  without  which, 
in  its  unremitting  contest  with  organized  and  organizing  labor  for  the 
lion's  share  of  the  results  of  production,  it  could  maintain  its  ground 
of  vantage  but  a  few  years.  It  is  through  the  indirect  power  of  this 
-array  of  unemployed  which  is  maintained  with  reckless  disregard  of 


PRIVATE    ENTERPRISE    MAINTAINED    BY    THE    UNEMPLOYED,      1 47 

the  better  interests  of  all  communities,  that  men  under  private  em- 
ployment through  fear  of  losing  their  opportunities  for  existence  are 
driven  to  a  continuity  of  service  often  both  slavish  and  degrading  ; 
are  forced  continually  to  accept  such  a  minimum  of  wages  as  the 
greed  and  ambition  of  employers  may  dictate. 

This  army  of  unemployed  is  the  reserved  power,  which  when 
wielded  with  persistency  and  skill  by  industrial  leaders,  as  emergen- 
cies demand,  exceeds  and  overcomes  the  active  forces  of  combined 
labor;  and  it  is  the  quiet,  farseeing,  settled,  unscrupulous  and  cruel, 
but  indispensible  policy  of  employers,  to  "  keep  on  hand  " — as  the 
wielders  of  machinery  wisely  provide  extra  cogs,  nuts,  cylinders, 
wheels,  shafts  and  beams,  to  take  the  place  of  those  broken ;  as 
those  who  produce  and  transport,  using  beasts  of  labor  and  burden, 
maintain  others  to  take  the  place  of  the  lame  and  disabled — a  »u- 
merous  and  effective  margin  of  unemployed  to  be  dropped  into  the 
places  of  those  driven  by  injustice  to  frequent  revolt. 

To  maintain,  without  sustaining^  an  effective  minimum  of  thor- 
oughly pauperized  laborers  in  America,  immigration  for  a  half  century 
or  more,  has  been  sedulously  and  vigorously  encouraged  and  pro- 
moted. To  get  rid  of  a  dangerous  maximum  of  unemployed  and 
impoverished  during  the  same  period,  has  been  the  policy  of  Euro- 
pean employers.  In  both  cases,  in  Europe  and  America,  these  subtle 
operations,  and  the  paramount  interests  of  capitalists,  have  been 
promoted  by  leading  statesmen  of  the  respective  nations  concerned. 
Laws  have  been  passed,  and  private  and  public  funds  used  to  trans- 
port the  pauper  and  dangerous  elements  of  Europe,  driven  to  poverty 
and  desperation,  not  so  fully  by  oppressive  political,  as  by  despoiling 
industrial  influences,  to  the  unappropriated  opportunities  of  the  new 
continent.  Private  and  public  influences  and  forces  in  America, 
have  been  persistently  invoked  under  the  guise  and  name  of  liberty 
and  humanity,  to  secure  the  surplus  laborers  of  Europe  in  numbers 
sufficient  to  hold  the  demand  of  native  laborers  for  ample  wages  in 
satisfactory  check.  It  has  been  the  policy  of  American  employers — 
those  who  determine  the  industrial  policy  of  government — for  more 
than  a  generation,  to  make  special  arrangements  to  secure  the  cheap 
labor  of  Europe  to  advance  their  own  enterprises,  and  crowd  out  at 
the  same  time,  the  cheap  goods  produced  by  similar  cheap  labor  This 
has  been  done  with  the  assistance  and  connivance  of  Government, 
under  those  refuges  of  subtle  schemers,  humanity  and  patriotism. 

Too  many  unemployed  endangers  the  peace  and  permanency  of 
organized  society.  Too  few  unemployed  threatens  the  security  and 
effectiveness  of  private  enterprise.  In  other  words,  to  maintain  pri- 
vate enterprise  in  the  fullness  of  its  vigor — widespread  poverty  must 
be  also  maintained. 

Though  the  United  States  government  has  enforced  a  tariff  which 


I4S  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

protected  products  belonging  to  domestic  employers  against  the 
competition  of  foreign  goods — presuming  thereby  to  protect  Amer- 
ican laborers  against  foreign  laborers — prompted  by  private  influences^ 
until  within  a  few  years  it  has  systematically  permitted  and  encouraged 
the  coming  of  large  numbers  of  foreign  laborers  under  contract ;  and 
these  foreign  laborers  encouraged  to  immigrate  under  pretense  of 
affording  them  refuge  and  freedom  from  political  tyranny,  have  ])re- 
served  intact  that  reserve  force  of  unemployed,  which,  in  the  hands 
of  capitalists  engaged  in  conflicts  with  organizing  labor,  have  en- 
abled them  to  maintain  control  of  industrial  affairs  ;  to  become  the 
industrial  soverigns  of  the  country,  and  levy  their  private  taxes  with- 
out obstruction  on  all  consumers. 

Within  a  few  years  public  sentiment  has  undergone  some 
change.  Discussion  of  the  tariff"  conducted  during  political  cam- 
paigns has  exposed  the  fact,  that  protection  to  goods  is  not  practi- 
cally protection  to  labor. 

In  1884  Congress  passed  a  law  in  the  following  language  :  "That 
from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any 
person,  company,  partnership  or  corporation,  in  any  manner  what- 
soever, to  prepay  the  transportation,  or  in  any  way  assist  or  encour- 
age the  importation  or  imigration  of  any  alien  or  aliens,  or  any  for- 
eigner or  foreigners  into  the  United  States,  its  territories,  or  the 
l^istrict  of  Columbia,  under  contract  or  agreement,  parole  or  special 
express  or  implied,  made  previous  to  the  importation  or  immigration 
of  such  alien  or  aliens,  foreigner  or  foreigners,  to  perform  a  service 
of  any  kind  in  the  United  States,  its  territories  or  the  District  of 
Columbia."  The  law  also  provided  that  for  every  violation  of  its 
provisions,  the  offender  shall  be  fined  $1,000;  that  suit  maybe 
brought  for  every  alien  imported  under  contract,  and  that  the  ex- 
pense of  prosecution  be  defrayed  by  the  United  States. 

This  law  is  distinct  and  mandatory  as  possible,  and  yet  it  is  openly 
violated  by  those,  who  of  all  others,  claim  to  be  law  abiding  ;  violated 
because  it  impairs  the  power  of  private  enterprise  and  threatens  its 
efficient  existence;  violated  in  opposition  to  the  eff"orts  of  govern- 
ment officials  to  render  its  provisions  effective. 

Mr.  Stephenson,  Commissioner  of  Emigration  at  New  York,  as- 
serts that  he  has  made  strenuous  eff'orts,  all  in  vain,  to  induce  the 
federal  District  Attorney  to  act  upon  palpable  violations  of  the  law. 
Said  the  Commissioner;  "There  are  numberless  cases  of  imported 
contract  labor  here  at  Castle  Garden,"  and  went  on  to  give  a  list  of 
them.  " Recently  when  in  Washington  in  company  with  Superin- 
tendent Jackson,  I  called  on  Acting  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
Fairchild,  with  relation  to  the  continued  violations  of  this  statute. 
I  said,  '  Mr.  Secretary,  the  trouble  is  in  the  fact,  that  there  is  no- 


IMPORTATION  CF  LABORERS  TO  SUSTAIN  PRIVATE  ENTERPRISE.  1 49 

body  to  enforce  the  law,'     He  shook  his  head  and  said,    '  That  is 
about  the  size  of  it.'  " 

Superintendent  Jackson,  of  the  Labor  Bureau  at  Castle  Garden, 
affirms  that  crowds  of  contract  laborers  arrive  there  whose  pas- 
sage has  been  paid  by  the  agents  of  American  employers.  He  says  : 
**  I  am  positive  that  droves  of  cheap  contract  laborers  have  been 
brought  over  here  within  the  past  three  years  by  employers  who  want 
to  prepare  for  the  anticipated  labor  troubles,  growing  out  of  the  de- 
mand of  American  workmen  for  shorter  hours  of  work.  I  name 
the  case  of  the  Clearfield  mining  operators,  who  sent  their  agents 
into  the  middle  of  Europe,  with  promises  of  plenty  of  work,  and  by 
paying  the  passage  of  men,  sent  over  a  number  of  Poles  and  Hun- 
garians. These  men  with  their  families,  went  through  the  Garden 
and  on  to  Pennsylvania,  where  they  soon  raised  a  bigger  row  than 
the  men  whose  places  they  took.  The  U.  S.  District  Attorney'  has 
had  his  attention  called  to  several  instances  of  the  violation  of  this 
law,  but  he  did  not  do  anything." 

The  Italian  slave  markets  of  New  York,  are  constantly  receiving 
drafts  from  Europe,  and  there  is  no  concealment  of  this  traffic, 
which  is  enriching,  not  only  the  padrone^  but  officials  of  the  Italian 
government  in  that  city.  An  Italian  Labor  Company  openly  in- 
forms contractors,  builders,  railroad  superintendents  and  engineers, 
that  it  is  prepared  "  to  supply  laborers  in  large  or  small  numbers  at 
figures  that  will  repay  inquiry."  According  to  the  best  estimates  the 
number  of  immigrants  imported  in  coffle  gangs  to  this  country, 
under  contract  with  corporations,  and  bound  to  labor  service  within 
the  last  ten  years,  has  approximated  a  quarter  of  a  million.  They 
liave  been  scraped  up  from  Italy,  Hungary,  Poland,  Germany  and 
Great  Britian,  wherever  cheap  laborers  could  be  induced  by  the 
false  promises  of  agents,  to  bind  themselves  by  contract,  under  the 
conditions  to  which  they  have  been  subjected ;  and  have  been  used 
to  depress  wages,  take  the  place  of  strikers,  and  by  keeping  a  glut 
in  the  labor  market,  prevent  the  possibility  of  strikes."* 

That  the  policy  of  sustaining  private  enterprise  by  keeping  at 
hand  a  large  surplus  of  labor — a  surplus  which  constitutes  the  bulk  of 
the  impoverished  and  criminal  class,  is  a  profoundly  planned,  well- 
settled  and  active  policy  is  attested  by  the  movements  of  employers, 
since  what  is  known  as  the  coal  and  freight  handlers  strike,  of  the 
present  year — 1887.  Their  movements,  usually  conducted  covertly 
and  quietly,  are  made  known  through  such  press  items  as  the  follow- 
ing telegram:  "New  York,  March  11. — The  Central  labor  Union 
are  in  trouble  about  the  just  now  rapidly  increasing  immigration  of 
Italians  at  Castle  Garden.  No  fewer  than  1,100  arrived  yesterday. 
The  Knights  of  Labor   claim  that   many   of  them  are  coming  here 

*New  York  paper. 


150  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS 

under  contract,  in  violation  of  a  federal  prohibitory  statute ;  and 
contracts  have  been  made  by  some  of  the  trunk  railroads  for  their 
service.  It  is  reported  at  the  Castle  Garden  Labor  Bureau,  that  all 
the  Fiench  steamers,  for  six  weeks  ahead,  will  be  loaded  with  im- 
migrants of  the  same  class."  A  more  recent  telegram  also  an- 
nounces the  destruction  of  a  European  steamer,  and  describes  the 
sufferings  of  800  Italian  laborers  on  board ;  laborers  whose  immi- 
gration is  interdicted  by  Federal  law,  the  provisions  of  which  are 
persistently,  even  openly,  violated  by  the  industrial  leaders  of  the 
country. 

And  what  do  American  employers,  or  their  apologists  say  in  justi- 
fication of  acts  notoriously  defiant  and  high-handed? 

They  say,  and  with  truth,  that  they  cannot  maintain  the  industries 
of  the  country  on  the  current  principles  of  private  enterprise,  with- 
out continually  drawing  from  the  surplus  population  of  Europe,  men 
and  women  who  will  accept  without  protest,  such  wages  as  the  em- 
ployers are  able  or  willing  to  give.  It  is  not,  they  will  tell  you  truly, 
what  their  better  irr pulses  would  prompt  them  to  do.  To  live  and 
succeed  in  a  turbulent  sea  of  competition,  each  employer  must 
secure  consumption  of  his  goods  by  striving  to  put  them  into  mar- 
ket either  of  better  quality  or  at  lower  price,  or  more  opportune 
moments  than  his  competitors. 

Each  employer  is  compelled  to  seek  for  himself,  and  drive  com- 
petitive employers  to  seek  for  themselves  material  and  labor  at  all 
hazards  of  moral  delinquency  or  legal  punishment,  at  tne  lowest 
possible  rates  ;  labor  also  which  will  not  interrupt  industrial  opera- 
tions by  going  on  strikes  for  higher  wages.  Their  undertaking  they 
will  tell  you,  is  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  public  ;  and  the  public  in- 
spired by  the  current  spirit  of  the  age,  to  get  as  much  and  as  per- 
fect a  product  as  is  possible  for  what  is  paid,  demands  cheap  goods 
and  continued  supply,  and  the  demand  must  be  met ;  that  every 
employer  is  pressed  to  the  utmost  by  all  other  employers,  and  to 
maintain  his  position  is  forced  to  obtain  cheap  and  good  material, 
cheap  and  effective  labor,  and  to  obtain  patronage,  sell  his  goods  at 
the  lowest  possible  price.  If  wages  are  raised  upon  him,  the  mar- 
gin of  profit  is  likely  to  be  eliminated,  and  he  is  in  imminent  danger 
of  that  failure,  which  will  cast  him  to  the  bottom  of  the  industrial 
pyramid  to  bewail  lost  opportunities  and  become  an  employee  of 
some  more  powerful  or  fortunate  rival. 

Hence  employers,  pleading  the  law  of  necessity,  refuse  to  obey 
statute  laws  which  threaten  to  undermine  that  form  of  industrial 
enterprise  to  which  they  have  been  reared,  and  which  alone  feeds 
their  industrial  hopes  and  ambitions,  and  gives  them  prospects  of 
accumulated  wealth.  So  long  as  private  enterprise,  based  on  indi- 
vidual  profit  rather  than  social  use,  exists  and  dominates  public 


PRIVATE    ENTERPRISE    RESPONSIBLE    FOR    PREVAILING    POVERTY.       I5I 

Opinion  and  the  enactment  and  administration  of  law,  so  long  will 
laws  intended  to  diminish  or  eliminate  poverty  be  subverted  or  cir- 
cumvented. 

A  strong  sentiment  is  rising  in  America,  on  grounds  other  than 
those  here   presented,  to    prevent    immigration,    ignorant,    viciousi 
and  pauperized,  from  foreign  countries.     If  it  assumes  the  form  of 
federal  law,  the  tendency  will  be  to  place  the  issue  between  Ameri- 
can employers  and  employees,  squarely  before  the  American  people- 
for  a  just  settlement.     If  the   law  is  executed,  organized  labor  will 
reorganize  with  better  prospects   of  success ;  the  buttress  of  private 
enterprise,  with  industrial  leaders  vieing  with  each  other  as  to  which 
shall  accumulate  most  of  that  wealth  of  which  they  produce  but  little^ 
will  be  withdrawn,  and  co-operative  distribution,  with    more    ample 
purchasing  power  to  n?anual  laborers,  will  advance  rapidly  along  the 
chosen  lines  of  industrial  evolution. 

It  appears  then — there  is  no  escape  from  the  logic  of  the  deduc- 
tion— that  private  enterprise,  conducted  as  it  is,  to  the  end  of  per- 
sonal profit,  by  a  small  proportion  and  detached  sections  of  the  pop- 
ulation into  whose  hands,  by  priority,  heredity  and  purchase  have 
been  accumulated  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  social  appliances- 
of  production,  lives  and  fattens  upon,and  is  responsible  for  the  exist- 
ence and  continuance  of  that  widespread  and  disastrous  poverty 
which  overshaows  every  civilized  nation  ;  and  that  employers,  leaders, 
and  promoters  of  industrial  enterprise,  stimulated  by  the  allurement 
of  individual  wealth)  are  its  willing,  ardent,  active  and  responsible 
defendants,  advocates  and  agents. 

It  furthermore  appears  questionable  whether  these  industrial  lead- 
ers— capitalists — can  subjectively  rise  high  enough  above  personal 
interests  and  enlarge  the  ends  of  industrial  life  to  include  si)ecifically 
and  directly  the  wants  of  every  citizen ;  questionable  if  the  subjec- 
tive disposition  rises  to  the  high  tide  of  general  utility,  whether  in- 
dustrial operations  can,  by  them,  be  combined  and  co-ordinated  to- 
that  harmony  and  comprehensive  efficiency  required  to  give  employ- 
ment and  ample  purchasing  po';7er  with  adequate  supply  to  individ- 
ual and  national  want ;  more  than  questionable,  if  that  ample  and 
intelligent  enlargement  of  the  ends  of  national  production  herein 
suggested  and  prompted,  will  be  given,  by  industrial  leaders,  even* 
that  full  and  thoughtful  consideration  which  the  topic  deserves. 

So  long  have  men  been  incited  to  action  principally  by  self-consider- 
ation, that  that  regard  for  the  "other"  which  it  was  the  mission  of  the 
Man  of  Nazareth  to  impress  on  developing  humanity,  has  scarcely- 
gained  entrance,  much  less  recognition,  among  the  motive  forces  of 
the  race.  It  appears,  furthermore,  that  amendments  to  present  in- 
dustrial  conditions  and  processes  must  be  principally  planned  and 


152  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

enforced  through  organization  and  action  of  the  excluded,  despoiled 
and  interested. 


POLITICAL    PARTIES    LOOKED    TO    FOR    RELIEF.  I53 

QUASI-PUBLIC     ENTERPRISE  ;    OR,    PRIVATE 

ENTERPRISE  UNDER  PUBLIC  CONTROL. 

CHAPTER  VI,  SECTION  VIII. 

The  considerations  presented  in  the  preceeding  sections  will  open 
the  minds  of  thoughtful  men  to  the  pro})Osition  that  some  things 
radically  wrong  exist  in  the  present  status  of  industrial  evolution, 
which,  in  the  interests  of  common  humanity  need  radical,  if  not 
abruptly  operating  remedies  ;  in  other  words  that  the  materials  and 
factors  involved  with  an  industrial  evolution,  need  some  new  and 
efficient  adjustments,  and  the  forces  some  beneficent  and  intelligent 
directions. 

In  connection  with  aggressors  and  aggrieved,  the  question  serious- 
ly arises  whether  private  enterprise,  conducted  with  the  direct  pur- 
pose of  supplying  the  wants,  satisfying  the  aspirations  and  gratifying 
the  ambitions  of  a  few,  and  promoting  the  maintenance  of  a  large 
mass  of  helpless  laborers  in  dependence  and  poverty,  can  be  relied 
upon  to  achieve  that  harmonious  condition  of  economic  affairs  in  the 
social  body,  which  perfect  organization  presupposes; 

That  continued  dissatisfaction  prevails,  now  here,  now  there, 
touching  at  one  time  one  industry,  at  another  place  another;  touch- 
ing the  narrow,  reckless,  irresponsible,  often  cruel,  dishonest  and 
vindictive  outcome,  is  only  too  manifest.  Scarcely  a  day  passes  in 
which  some  patron  of  private  enterprise  does  not  lift  up  blind, 
hopeless  and  usually  helpless  prayer  to  some  higher  and  stronger 
power  for  relief  from  its  oppressions  and  exactions. 

The  irreverent  masses  usually  look  to  organized,  or  organizing 
society,  to  government,  to  statute  law  for  ample  relief.  The  burden 
of  their  hopes  and  prayers  often  becomes  the  incentive  and  stimulus  to 
political  movements.  It  is  the  manifest  function  of  political  organiza- 
tion to  respond  to  such  demands.  Political  parties  are  saddled  with 
the  responsibility  of  relieving  the  people — patrons — from  the  over- 
weening power  and  relentless  exactions  of  private  enterprise,  con- 
ducted as  it  is  throughout  Christendom  for  private  purposes,  and 
not  for  the  general  good..  Everywhere  and  unceasingly  the  cry  arises 
for  protection — in  city,  county,  state  and  nation — from  the  results  of 
a  ceaseless  industrial  controversy,  the  elimination  of  whose  customs, 
maxims  and  mandates  would,  however,  incite,  probably  through  ig- 
norance of  the  economic  conditions  surrounding,  loud  protests  of 
the  impossible.     While  the  successful  few — successful  principally  on 


154  WEALTH    AKD    poverty    OF    NATIONS. 

account  of  privileges,  opportunities  and  advantages  secured  by  priority, 
heredity  or  purchase,  and  not  enjoyed  by  others — are  satisfied  with 
current  conditions,  the  bulk  of  society  to  secure,  not  a  change  of 
conditions  and  purposes  which  might  bring  permanent  relief,  but 
temporary  easement  from  the  strain  of  forces,  are  continually  demand- 
ing the  interference  of  society  through  government  with  the  industrial 
operations  of  private  individuals  and  corporations. 

The  reverent  few,  for  the  desired  relief  from  industrial  exactions, 
turn  their  thoughts  toward  that  invisible  Source  of  power  which  it  is 
alleged  and  believed  holds  the  reins  of  government  over  all  material 
organizations. 

Indeed  communities  in  their  one  function  of  patron  and  con- 
sumer, ever  and  anon  bitterly  protest  against  the  cruel  oppressions  of 
private  enterprise  ;  protest  to  organized  society  on  one  hand  and 
Creative  and  Provident  forces  on  the  other. 

Industrial  oppression,  within  a  few  years  has  increased  and  in- 
tensified to  that  extent,  that  government,  in  all  its  phases  of  opera- 
tion, has  been  called  upon  to  check  the  plundering  of  industrial 
leaders ;  indeed,  public  sentiment  is  rapidly  crystalizing,  has  mark- 
edly crystalized  into  the  belief  and  demand  that  enterprise  must  be 
placed  under  the  strong  and  repressing  arm  of  government  surveil- 
lance and  restraint;  and  not  a  few  are  of  the  belief  that  the 
reckless  disregard  of  the  public  good  by  private  enterprise,  will  ulti- 
mately force  the  public  into  ownership  and  control  of  those  industries 
through  which  the  wants  of  the  nation  are  supplied. 

Already,  scarcely  an  industry,  in  whose  results  the  public  is  inter- 
ested— and  as  patron,  in  what  is  it  not — but  has  so  frequently  and 
oppressively  transgressed  upon  the  maxims  and  laws  of  justice,  and 
the  intuitions  of  inter-individual  good-will,that  government,  in  defense 
of  public  interests  has  interfered  with  its  operations,  through  means 
of  surveillance  and  limitation. 

Government  inspection  of  the  operations  of  private  enterprise  is 
:ommon  everywhere,  and  so  unscrupulous  and  seductive  are  the 
means  used  by  industrial  leaders — capitalists — to  avert  the  benifi- 
cent  results  of  inspection  to  the  public,  that  special  inspectors  are 
often  appointed  to  watch  and  report  upon  the  action  of  regular  in- 
spectors. 

Inspection  is,  usually  premonitory  of,  and  preparatory  to  more 
decisive  action  on  the  part  of  society ;  viz,,  direction,  limitation  and 
control.  To  that  extent  has  private  enterprise,  in  its  greed  of  gain, 
imposed  on  helpless  communities,  that  government,  local  and 
national,  in  defense  of  the  public  good,  has  placed  under  strict  sur- 
veillance, among  phases  of  business  too  numerous  to  mention,  bank- 
ing houses,  insurance  companies,  water,  gas  and  electric  light  com- 
panies.    It   has   turned   the   light   of  public  intelligence  on  private 


THE    PRESENT    PARENTAL    CHARACrER    OF    GOVERNMENT.         1 55 

operations  in  oleomargerine  ;  in  whisky  distilling  ;  in  tobacco  culture 
and  manufacture  ;  in  beer  brewing  and  wine  making  ;  in  the  prepara- 
tion and  sale  of  meats,  and  in  telegraph,  express  and  railway  in- 
dustries. 

The  more  closely  one  observes  the  accepted  and  established 
relations  between  industry  and  government,  the  function  of  the  lat- 
ter seems  to  be  that  of  a  parental  umpire  to  a  lot  of  reckless,  ruth- 
less, quarreling  progeny.  The  continued  tendency  of  the  latter  has 
been  to  infringe  on  the  industrial  rights  and  compensations  of  other 
industries,  or  other  individuals  and  corporations  engaged  in  the  same 
industry,  and  govern niental  function  and  power  is  taxed  to  the  ex- 
treme, to  maintain  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  weaker  and  more 
helpless,  against  the  strong  and  unscrupulous.  Those  who  protest 
strongly  as;ainst  the  parental  element  of  government,  will  do  well  to 
ask  and  determine  for  themselves,  whether  what  we  now  have,  is 
other  than  a  parental  organization  whose  time  and  power  is  mostlv 
expended,  not  in  undertaking  and  promoting,  but  in  watching,  di- 
recting and  regulating  the  industrial  operations  of  the  numerous 
factors — individual  and  corporate — which  have  grown  up  under 
its  fostering  care  ;  an  organized  social  parent,  engaged  in  watching^ 
scolding,  whiping  and  punishing  its  erratic  and  recalcitrant  progeny. 
They  might  also  inquire  and  determine  if  society,  through  govern- 
ment, would  not  accomplish  more  for  its  component  individuals  in 
every  way,  by  assuming  directly  and  absolutely,  the  functions  of 
production  and  distribution,  rather  than  by  placing  certain  individ- 
uals in  positions  o^"  industrial  power,  and  standing  guard  over  their 
licensed  operations. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  much  of  what  society  stands  guard  over 
and  limits  through  law,  is  the  result  of  its  own  primitive,  inconsider- 
ate disreregard  for  the  fundamental  principles  of  equity  ;  disregard 
in  that  it  has  assigned  and  confirmed  to  a  few  of  its  earliest  born  and 
earliest  developed  individuals,  a  major  portion  of  the  sources  of  wealth 
and  appliances  of  production.  It  is  the  struggle  tor  the  results  of 
production  which  incites  fraud,  over-reaching  and  exclusion,  against 
the  injustice  of  which,  organized  society,  through  law,  is  ever  con- 
tending. 

It  seems  almost  impossible,  that  those  who  inaugurate  and  pro- 
mote private  enterprise  influenced  by  the  fierce  conflicts  of  compet- 
itive distribution,  should  successfully  conduct  their  affairs  along,  or 
close  to  the  lines  of  strict  honesty.  It  is  war;  war  for  bread,  clothes 
and  roofs ;  and  who  ever  knew  of  war  being  conducted  except  through 
the  instrumentality  of  violence  or  strategy  ?  Violence  being  interdict- 
ed by  all  the  power  of  organizing  society,  what  remains  as  a  means 
of  warfare  but  strategy — but  the  secretive  element  of  attack  and  self 
defense  ? 


156  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

Under  influence  of  this  element  of  human  nature,  it  is  self-praise, 
imposture,  evasive  and  delusive  promises  with  professional  men  ;  it  is 
shirking,  direct  deceit  and  pretense  with  those  engaged  in  personal 
service ;  it  is  short  measure,  light  weight,  misrepresented  quality  and 
false  statements  regarding  cost,  loss  and  profit  with  trade  and  trans- 
portation ;  it  is  counterfeiting  and  adulteration  with  manufacturers 
and  the  petty  forms  of  deceit  regarding  quality  and  quantity,  which 
mark  the  transactions  of  agriculture. 

Pure  exchange  wherein  value  moves  from  person  to  person  with 
exact  equation  is  rarely  thought  of;  advantage — somewhat  more  to 
be  got  than  given — is  the  present  inciting  motive  of  commerce,  as 
well  as  of  the  other  phases  of  industrial  life.  A  line  of  falsification  in 
some  of  its  more  or  less  delicate  manifestations,  by  common  consent, 
marks  most  acts  of  exchange  and  is  recognized  and  admitted  by  the 
parties  thereto.  Every  one  is  on  the  lookout  lest  he  is  the  suff"erer 
through  the  operation  of  deception  and  fraud.* 

But  organized  society,  as  to  its  interference  with  the  despoiling  op- 
erations of  private  enterprise,  goes,  in  defense  of  the  interests  of  the 
people,  much  farther  than  mere  inspection  and  surveillance.  It  is 
against  vast  and  aggressive  influences  and  their  outward,  combined  and 
overpowering  expression  in  current  incidents  of  business,  that  gov- 
ernment enters  the  arena  of  limitation  and  control. 

Intuitively,  under  unendurable  or  unjustifiable  exaction,  the  public 
appeals  to  government,  as  the  best  exponent  and  executioner  of 
that  justice  which  should  underlie  all  law,  for  effective  relief ;  and 
under  the  plastic  touch  of  public  opinion  these  appeals  have  met  a 
willing,  but,  too  often,  a  tardy  response. 

*In  the  operation  of  this  fearful  truth  and  the  more  fearful  phases  of  competition 
lies  the  argument  for  and  defense  of  free  trade  on  one  hand  and  proteciive  tarifiFon 
the  other.  Both  parties  affect  to  believe  in  the  essential  equity  of  manufacture  and 
commerca— in  the  intent  of  all  parties  to  industrial  life,  to  observe  a  true  equation 
of  exchange.  Each  party  ignores  the  existence  of  industrial  combinations,  which, 
following  the  plundering  instincts  of  private  enterprise  renders  the  beneficent  the- 
ories of  both  inoperative  and  abortive;  the  advocate  of  free  trade  ignores  the  possi- 
ble, yes,  probable  operations  of  industrial  combinations,  in  breaking  down  the  in- 
dustries of  one  country,  where  industry  is  but  partly  organized,  diminishing  em- 
ployment and  destroying  purchasing  power.  Its  entire  purpose  is  the  reduction  of 
prices  to  consumers.  It  takes  but  a  one-sided  view  of  the  whole  field,  The  adyo- 
c  ite  of  a  protective  tariff  notes  these  objections  to  tree  trade;  but  in  the  competitive 
struggle  at  b(  me  for  the  results  of  production— between  employees  and  employer, 
between  employee  and  employee,  between  producers  and  consumers— does  not  see 
that  his  protection  really  protects  only  a  combination  of  employers;  that  the  high 
rate  of  prices  he  is  enabled  to  maintain  by  protection  is  drawn  from  the  pockets  of 
consumers  not  to  increase  the  purchasing  power  of  employees,  but  to  make  a  few 
millionaires,  Both  forget  that  private  enterprise  must  of  necessity  involve  a  com- 
petitive struggle  for  the  results  of  production;  that  competition  combines  to  com- 
pete and  in  these  Titanic  contests  the  expected  beneficent  results  of  grand  measures 
like  protection  on  one  hand  and  free  trade  on  the  other,  are  limited  or  overthrown; 
that  these  consequences  must  follow,  whether  private  enterprise  is  conducted  on  an 
international  ^cale  with  free  trade  or  a  national  scale  with  protection.  The  tariff 
protects  the  nation  as  producers,  and  free  trade  cares  for  it  as  consumers.  There  is 
an  individualism  in  private  enterprise  which  has  defeated  and  will  continue  to  de- 
feat the  beneficeut  prognostications  of  the  adherents  of  free  trade  and  protection 
alike.  It  is  the  ingrained  inequity  of  commerce  itself,  whether  it  be  foreign  or  do- 
mestic commerce  which  is  responsible  for  the  pernicious  results  of  free  trade  on 
one  hand  and  protection  on  the  other. 


ALSO    PRODUCERS    ARE    ASSISTED    BY    GOVERNMENT.  1 57 

Legislation  has  become  burdened  by  laws  of  limitation  and  con- 
trol, and  the  dockets  of  the  courts  are  loaded  with  the  evidences  of 
liiigious  discontent.  Limitation  and  control,  as  a  rule,  is  placed  on 
those  individuals,  corporations  and  combinations,  the  character  and 
extent  of  whose  operations  most  acutely  affect  the  supply  of  impera- 
tive want ;  and  those  which,  having  beaten  down  all  competition,  have 
arrived  at  or  near  the  status  of  monopoly. 

For  these  private  enterprises,  definite  lines  of  procedure  have  been 
marked  out  beyond  which  it  is  unlawful  to  go.  Each  employer  is 
constrained  to  limit  his  industrial  liberty  within  fixed  bounds-  -bounds 
which  give  also  liberty  to  his  peers.  This  restraint  is  often  regarded 
as  an  interference  with  their  industrial  rights  by  those  who  are  ready 
and  anxious  to  over-ride  the  equal  rights  of  others  to  the  means  of 
life  and  success.  But  where  all  do  not  have  liberty  none  have  it ;  it 
is  license  on  the  one  part  and  oppression  and  servitude  on  the  other. 
If  I  trespass  on  the  industrial  rights  of  my  neighbor,  I  have  opened 
the  way  to  further  trespass,  which  may  be  extended  to  the  entire 
community;  and  government  is  performing  a  necessary  function  if  it 
limits  me  and  gives  others  also  their  equal  right.  Limitation  and 
control  by  government  tends  to  the  development  of  limited,  and 
therefore  truer  industrial  liberty. 

Government  in  protection  of  the  public  from  private  enterprise, 
has  undertaken  to  reduce  the  prices  of  commodity  and  service. 
Principally,  since  the  growth  of  corporations,  the  organization  of 
combinations  and  the  development  of  machinery,  has  competition 
through  overthrow  of  the  weaker  factors  and  combination  of  the 
strongest,  developed  the  industrial  detachments  to  the  monopolistic 
status;  a  status  which  results  in  no  good  io  consumers.  Against  the  ex- 
actions of  these  organized  monopolies  has  government  been  appealed 
to  with  Ic^ud  complaint,  and  it  has  responded  by  passing  laws  to  lim- 
it prices  of  commodities  and  services.  It  has  cut  the  rates  of  gas 
and  water  and  transportation  companies,  and  its  course  of  inspection 
limitation  and  control  has  been  sustained  by  courts  of  last  appeal. 

The  principle  that  society,  acting  as  a  totality,  is  bound  by  the 
highest  sanctions  of  duty  to  protect  its  component  individuals  and 
detachments  from  the  bandit  instincts  of  other  individuals  and  de- 
tachments, has  crystalized  into  a  national  policy — a  policy  which  is 
sustained  by  the  wisest  and  loftiest  authority  and  stimulates  the  pub- 
lic hope  that  in  due  course  of  events  a  true  industrial  freedom  may  be 
evolved. 

But  another  and  equally  important  phase  of  the  relations  of  gov- 
ernment to  private  enterprise  presents.  The  public,  in  its  economic 
life  as  consumers,  have  appealed  to  government  for  protection  and 
government  has  wisely  responded  by  inspection,  limitation  and  con- 
trol.    But  the  public  as  producers^  have  not  forgotten  that  a  parental 


15^  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY   OF    NATIONS. 

power — or  somewhat  analogous — stands  behind  them  and  have  ap- 
pealed to  that  power  for  assistance.  Whether  wisely  or  not,  a  func- 
tion of  government  has  been  evolved  which  consists  in  assisting  and 
promoting  private  enterprise  by  subsi(fy  of  special  privileges, franchises, 
lands  and  money.  It  has  been  done  on  the  presumption  that  no 
private  enterprise  can  be  carried  forward  in  which  the  people  as  a 
whole  are  not,  or  may  not  be  interested  as  consumers  or  patrons. 
To  say  nothing  of  patents  of  land,  which  from  the  first  to  last,  on 
larg;e  or  small  scale,  are  little  else  than  special  subsidies  to  special  in- 
dividuals, to  the  absolute  exclusion  of  others,  English  and  American 
history  is  replete  with  instances  wherein  private  enterprise  has  been 
encouraged  and  sustained  by  the  goods  and  money  of  the  public. 
Such  subsidial  assistance  has  oftenest  been  conferred  on  private  enter- 
prise engaged  in  trade  and  transportation  and  the  communication  of 
intelligence.  In  the  domain  of  mechanics  and  manufacture,  govern- 
ment has  granted  special  [»rivileges  to  those  who  have  made  new  dis- 
coveries in  nature  or  compassed  new  inventions  in  art  or  mechanical 
manipulation.  It  has  granted  a  monopoly  to  the  inventor  or  his  as- 
signees for  a  definite  and  ample  term  of  years.  In  agriculture  it  has 
offered  and  paid  premiums  to  promote  the  various  forms  and  phases 
of  animal  and  vegetable  growth.  The  agricultural  bureau  is  in  con- 
tinual correspondence  with  different  portions  of  the  country  conveying 
gratis  to  planters  large  varieties  of  seed.  The  culture  of  fish  is  al- 
most exclusively  in  the  hands  and  under  the  control  of  government. 
Game  laws  everywhere  exist  to  protect  the  interests  of  consumers. 
The  tariff  has  been  sustained,  principally,  to  protect  private  enter- 
prise in  its  productive  department  against  low  prices  of  material,  la- 
bor and  goods  from  foreign  countries  ;  protection  which  really  con- 
stitutes a  subsidy  taken  indirectly  from  consumers  and  transferred 
to  the  exchanges  of  producers.  Through  this  indirect  taxation,  a 
vast  majority  of  the  productive  movements  of  private  enterprise  are 
especially  promoted  and  financially  sustained  through  the  efficient 
instrumentality  and  aid  of  government. 

Most  of  -Ahatever  is  now  urged  by  public  men — who  too  often 
give  but  little  thought  to  public  affairs — against  the  interference  of 
government  with  industrial  affairs  as  promoted  and  managed  by 
private  enterprise,  is  tardy  and  inopportune.  The  fact  already  ob- 
tains that  government,  in  all  forms  and  phases  of  its  operation  and 
instrumentality,  is  inextricably  intertwined  with  industrial  affairs ;  that 
it  has  already  assumed  and  exercised  responsibilities  pertaining  there- 
to, which  by  intelligent  men  cannot  be  ignored  or  set  aside.  Gov- 
ernment at  all  times  and  in  every  civilized  nation  is  held  by  the 
people  in  their  functlbn  as  consumers  or  producers,  responsible  for 
the  satisfactory  ongoing  of  industrial  affairs.  If  the  producer  is 
■short  of  funds  to  manage  enterprises  of  "pith  and  moment,"  he  goes 


WHEN    LEGIsr.ATION    MAY    BECOME    HARMONIOUS.  1 59 

to  government  with  his  plea  for  assistance.  He  urges,  of  course,  not 
hif:  own  interests,  but  the  interests  of  the  people  as  consumers  of  his 
services  or  commodities.  In  this  plea,  which  is  both  true  and  false, 
he  has  been  sustained  by  a  consenting  public  sentiment  which  ad- 
mits the  principle  that  government  may  and  should  assist  and  sustain 
the  productive  enterprises  of  the  nation.  If  the  consumer  is  oppress- 
ed by  the  exaction  of  producers,  he  knows  no  higher  or  more  appro- 
priate source  of  appeal  than  through  the  government  to  organized 
society. 

With  an  inconsistency  however,  which  might  seem  strange,  did 
not  private  enterprise  develop  and  stimulate  individual  interests, 
appeal  is  usually  met  by  protest.  When  the  producer  calls  on  gov- 
ernment for  assistance,  consumers  protest  that  the  function  of  govern- 
ment is  not  to  promote  or  sustain  private  industrial  enterprise.  When 
the  consumer  appeals  for  protection  from  the  producer,  the  latter 
enters  protest  in  like  manner  and  on  similar  grounds.  Each  prompt- 
ed by  the  greedy  spirit  of  private  enterprise,  assumes  that  the  funct- 
ion of  government  is  to  assist  himself  but  not  the  other  man. 

And  government,  in  the  enactment  and  execution  of  laws  cuts  a 
sorry,  and  often  absurd  figure.  Why?  Simply  because  that  which 
it  undertakes  to  inspect,  control  and  govern,  viz.,  private  enterprise, 
co-operatimg  everywhere  to  produce,  and  competing  everywhere  to 
distribute  and  consume,  has  reached  that  necessary  point  of  its  evo- 
lution where  inconsistencies  and  absurdities  are  the  rule  rather  than 
the  exception. 

Thus,  every  citizen  embodies  in  his  every-day  life  elements  which 
should  not  be,  but  which  are  made  antagonistic  to  every  other  citizen 
through  the  competitive  struggle  for  the  results  of  production.  Ad- 
vancement of  the  interest  of  one  capitalist  draws  from  the  prosperity 
of  another.  The  interests  of  capitalists,  as  a  class,  are  antagonistic 
to  those  of  laborers.  In  the  present  status,  the  interests  of  laborers 
are  antagonistic  to  those  of  capitalists;  the  interests  of  boht  an! ag- 
onize those  of  consumers,  and  the  interests  of  consumers  are  best 
subserved  by  drawing  from  the  purchasing  power  of  the  capitalist  de- 
siring large  profits,  and  the  laborer  high  wages.  If  government  by 
law  subsidizes  one  capitalist  and  fails  to  assist  another,  the  interests 
of  the  latter  are  impaired  in  degree  corresponding  to  the  advanced  in- 
terests of  the  former.  If  legislation  is  enacted  which  gives  large 
profits  to  the  capitalist,  it  reduces  the  wages  of  the  laborer  and  in- 
creases the  cost  to  consumers.  If  laws  are  enacted  which  diminish 
the  prices  of  commodities  to  consumers,  then  the  profits  of  capitalists 
are  diminished,  and  wages  of  the  laborer  decline.  If  laws  are  exe- 
cuted which  advance  the  rate  of  wages,  then  capitalists  and  consumers 
suffer ;  the  former,  by  decline  of  profits,  the  latter  by  advance  of 
prices. 


l6o  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

From  this  jumble  of  antagonistic  interests,  is  it  wonderful  that  all 
laws  bearing  upon  industrial  life  are  but  a  mass  of  compromises  with 
sectional  interests — a  mass  of  comparative  inconsistencies?  Never- 
theless, commnuity  would  embody  an  industrial  pandemonium  were 
not  the  conflicting  industrial  forces  kept  under  surveillance  and  held 
in  check  by  legislation. 

When  industrial  life  becomes  consistent,  when  the  interests  of  one 
are  the  concern  of  all  and  the  interests  of  all  the  concern  of  one, 
when  unity  of  end — general  utility  instead  of  individual  profit  and 
personal  greed — animates  the  industrial  life  of  the  nation,  then  can 
legislation  thereon  become  simple  and  consistent ;  then  may  law 
cease  to  be  a  tissue  of  incongruous  compromises  ;  then  may  legisla- 
tion and  litigation,  necessity  therefor  having  been  dismissed,  be  re- 
duced to  a  minimum.  Simple  regulation  and  superintendence  will 
then  accomplish  more  for  the  well-being  of  all,  than  laws  piled  vol- 
ume on  volume  and  adjudicated  and  executed  by  the  most  expensive 
systems  of  courts  and  executive  appliances.  Antagonized  by  a 
systematic  industrial  warfare,  itself  inspired  by  personal  greed, 
the  world's  cruelest  war  time  is  not  yet  passed.  Meantime  in 
the  Jmodes  and  under  conditions  before  referred  to,  the  province 
of  government  will  be  to  inspect,  regulate,  control  and  limit 
the  conflicting  interests  of  private  enterprise  and  hold  it  firmly  and 
steadily  to  that  ultimate  outcome  of  development  which  the  intelli- 
gent beneficent  forces  are  slowly  and  wisely  evolving. 


PROPHECY    OF    BETTER    CONDITIONS.  l6l 

PUBLIC  ENTERPRISE. 
CHAPTER  VL,  SECTION  IX. 

Amid  all  this  conflict,  with  much  friction,  much  poverty  and  misery, 
but  with  silver  streaks  of  prospect  breaking  through  the  cloud  and 
gloom,  industrial  evolution  is  advancing  with  hopeful  and  vigorous 
strides. 

To  suppose  that  industrial  forces  will  come  to  a  status  in  present 
conditions  would  be  equivalent  to  supposing  that  the  planetary  system 
will  cease  to  circle  through  space.  To  suppose  that  the  full  capacity 
of  production  has  been  reached  and  that  distribution  has  come 
squarely  under  the  law  of  equity,  is  to  assume  that  the  large  mass  cf 
men  are  predestined  and  perpetually  doomed  to  suffer  and  labor,  that 
a  small  minority  may  consume  and  enjoy ;  is  to  assume  that  a  good 
and  wise  Creator  had  foreordained  "  from  the  foundation  of  the  world" 
organized  poverty,  misery  and  distress  and  planted  it  on  the  earth  for 
his  glory  and  satisfaction.  A  wise,  kindly  and  benificent  man  will 
bring  into  being  only  what,  in  its  operation  and  manifestation  corres- 
ponds to  the  wisdom,  kindness  and  benificence  of  his  own  nature.  If 
he  builds  a  machine,  constructs  a  steamship  or  paints  a  landscape, 
iu  will  accord,  as  to  its  forms,  uses  and  satisfactions  to  the  stronger 
and  better  elements  of  his  own  nature  ;  it  will  be  something  upon 
which  he  can  look  without  pity  or  pain.  To  suppose  the  Creative 
Force,  evidently  intelligent  and  beneficent  as  to  its  character,  will  act 
less  intelligently  or  beneficent  than  man,  is  an  absurdity.  Hence, 
the  human  individual  has  not  arrived  to  that  finish  and  perfection, 
which  is  his  destiny,  nor  has  society  achieved  the  fullness  and  har- 
mony of  its  possibilities. 

Men  will  tell  you  that  industrial  matters  have  always  been  as  they 
are,  that  the  many  have  labored  and  the  few  consumed  and  enjoyed. 
What  has  been  will  be,  and  always  will  be. 

You  admit  the  proximate  truth  of  the  statement  but  deny  the  con- 
clusions; for  you  see  evidences  of  a  general  law  of  progress  and  evo- 
lution and  know,  through  your  rationality,  that  betterments  are  sure 
to  come  to  all  departments  of  life,  as  they  have  already  come  to 
some.  It  is  probable  the  average  individual  has  kept  pace  with  the 
social  development  of  each  successive  civilization  ;  but  it  is  a  matter 
of  history  that  the  organization  of  every  civilization  has  aborted  at 
some  promising  point  of  its  development.  Egypt  was  swept  away 
under  the  oppressions  of  the  Ptolemies.  Greece  fell  under  the  fierce 
onslaughts  of  surrounding  nations.  Rome  succumbed  to  the  inroads 
of  the  Goths  and  Vandals  and  the  Christian  civilization  which  is  con- 


4[62  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS, 

lEined  to  no  single  nation,  continent  or  clime,  is  now  arriving  at  the 
.point  of  the  greatest  strain. 

But  none  of  those  civilizations  which  have  gone  into  the  catalogue 
•of  the  by-gone,  yielded  to  outside  influences  until  they  were  mellow 
and  rotten  within — until  the  constituted  leaders  had  lost  their  virility 
by  indulgence  in  luxuries  which  were  supplied,  not  by  their  own 
labor,  but  by  exactions,  enforced  through  violence  or  law,  upon  the 
^productions  of  the  toilers.  It  was  concentrated  wealth,  used  first 
for  the  comfort  and  luxury  and  subsequently  for  the  debauchment  of 
the  few,  that  caused  the  poverty  of  all  preceding  civilizations  and 
■which  has  cast  its  cloud  over  those  modern  nations  which  have  risen 
to  power  under  the  civilization  of  the  Man  of  Nazareth.  In  the  hot 
•  and  plethoric  brain  the  chilled  and  anaemic  extremities  of  modern 
Nations — the  few  rich  and  the  many  poor — lies  the  danger  which 
may  yet  cause  the  present  civilization,  with  its  masterly  activities 
and  its  redundant  exuberance  of  production,  to  lapse  into  some  new 
aspect  of  barbaric  chaos. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  say  that  with  all  past  civilizations  the  masses 
"have  been  poor  and  the  few  rich  and  comfortable  and  that  what  has 
been,  must  be  ;  but  it  is  for  us  to  recognize  in  the  growing  irregu- 
larities of  physical  life,  symptoms  of  that  decadence,  which,  origina- 
rting  in  the  corrupt  morals  and  emasculated  intellects  of  the  leading 
and  determining  class,  if  not  arrested  by  wise  and  heroic  action,  is 
abound  sooner  or  later,  to  result  disastrously. 

It  is  not  alone  that  the  poor  are  poor  and  miserable  and  inces- 
santly suffer  the  tortures  of  hunger  and  cold,  and  the  prostitution  of 
body,  and  degradation  of  soul  which  poveity  induces,  but  it 
is  that  society,  having  passed  through  centuries  of  reformation  and 
■reorganization,  and  having  arrived  at  an  epoch  full  of  hope  and 
prophecy,  may,  by  disregarding  the  causes  of  decadence  which 
brought  the  civilizations  of  Egypt,  Phoenicia,  Greece  and  Rome  to  an 
vinglorious  end,  again  abort  that  perfect  evolution  which  is  its  ul- 
timate destiny. 

That  men  must  come  up  from  the  depths  by  effort  through  suffer- 
ing as  they  have  gone  down  to  the  depths  by  slothfulness  through 
sensual  gratification,  is  probable.  The  history  of  human  growth,  in- 
dividual and  social,  attest  this  truth.  But  the  evolutionary  forces, 
-Interior  and  exterior,  will  surely  and  rapidly  carry  the  masses  upward 
ifrom  the  miserable  and  squalid  life  which  has  marked  their  existence 
for  ages.     It  is  not  true  that  what  has  been  will  always  be. 

It  has  been  shown  that  concentrated  wealth  is  the  result  of  indus- 
trial processes  developed  and  conducted  by  private  enterprise  for  the 
.^ood  of  the  individual ;  that  the  strong  and  prior  as  to  birth,  advent 
or  development,  through  its  customs  and  laws,  through  its  narrow 
processes  and  principles,  secure  natural  and  developed  advantages 


THE    QUESTION    TO    BS    DETERMINED.  163 

which  enable  them  to  concentrate  the  world's  wealth  to  their  posses- 
sion and  control. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  to  what  extent  private  enterprise,  in  defense 
of  the  public  welfare,  has  been  placed  under  the  determinations  of 
society  through  government  inspection,  limitation  and  control ;  that 
the  powerful  arm  of  the  law  and  complex  factors  of  government  are 
engaged  at  vast  expenditure  of  intelligence,  power  and  money,  in 
holding  the  irrepressible  forces  of  private  enterprise,  stimulated  by  in- 
dividual greed,  within  such  limits  that  endurable  individual  and  social 
existence  is  possible ;  that  in  defiance  of  legislative  tetherings  and 
irrespective  of  the  crying  wants  of  the  masses,  its  exactions  on  con- 
sumers and  the  failure  to  transmit  through  wages,  fee  and  salary  an 
adequate  purchasing  power  to  the  laboring  population,  has  conduced 
and  yet  conduces  to  produce  those  extremes  of  physical  condition 
that  stimulate  widespread  dissatisfaction,  incite  bitter  discontent  and 
promote  intense  and  devastating  industrial  warfare  among  the  eco- 
nomic factors. 

The  complex  question  which  now  presses  for  solution  is,  can  the 
industrial  forces  be  more  successfully  managed  ?  managed  to  result 
in  a  better  distribution  of  the  present  results  of  production  ?  man- 
aged to  increase  the  sum  total  of  national  wealth,  and  throujih  in- 
crease of  wealth  bring  comfort,  even  luxury,  to  every  intelligent  and 
industrious  home  within  the  national  domain  ?  managed  to  develop 
and  augment  the  individuality  of  all  individuals,  while  it  concentrates 
and  establishes  the  national  power  and  the  perfect  social  organism  ? 

To  negative  this  question  is  to  deny  the  capacity  of  man  and  the 
power  of  God.  With  a  low  and  narrow  purpose,  a  low  and  narrow 
result  must  be  expected.  The  end  of  all  enterprise  actively  engaging 
the  productive  forces  of  every  civilized  nation,  is  the  individual  wel- 
fare of  those  who  incite,  promote  and  lead  industry.  It  is  a  narrow 
end,  and  narrow  results  must  be  expected.  No  one  will  qilestion  the 
assertion  that  they  are  realized. 

While  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  private  enterprise  has 
been  and  is  an  indispensable  phase  of  industrial  evolution,  it  is 
not  clear  that  it  has  done  the  best,  if  all  it  can  do,  towards  the  de- 
sired result ;  viz.,  a  perfected  industrial  system. 

It  has  been  shown  that  private  enterprise,  though  it  inaugurates 
and  promotes  industrial  activity,  when  its  purpose,  is  achieved — sup- 
ply to  the  wants  of  industrial  leaders — stands  in  the  way  of  farther 
production  required  by  the  unsupplied  wants  of  the  laboring  rank 
and  file.  Resting  on  the  process  of  purchase  and  sale  for  exchange, 
bent  on  the  gathering  of  profit,  refusing  to  transfer  ample  purchasing 
power  to  needy  consumers  that  the  latter  may  purchase  all  com- 
modities produced  up  to  their  consuming  power,  it  arrests  produc- 
tion  in  the  face  of  a  hungry   and  naked  people.     The   plow  and 


164  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

reaper  are  housed,  fires  put  out  and  factories  closed  and  materials 
and  implements  of  building  relegated  to  comparative  disuse.  Charity, 
public  and  private,  bridges  over  a  long  suspension  of  activities  by 
niggardly  feeding  and  clothing  of  starving  and  freezing,  while  the 
desperate  find  shelter  in  jail,  prison  or  insane  asylum. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  private  enterprise  is  not  likely,  for 
various  reasons,  to  conduct  industrial  affairs  to  a  wider  scope  or 
better  end  through  its  own  narrow  interests.  Hence,  the  end  of 
industry  must  be  changed  from  the  individual  to  the  public  welfare ; 
and  it  becomes  imperative,  furthermore,  to  look  to  another  instru- 
mentality for  industrial  management,  to  supplement,  if  it  does  not 
displace,  the  leadership  of  private  enterprise;  some  being,  already 
existing,  or  to  be  brought  into  existence,  which  has  for  the  end  of 
its  existence  and  operation,  the  public  good. 

Government  established  according  to  the  best  theory,  "  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people,"  acting  as  the  instrument  of  organized  or 
organizing  society,  most  nearly  approximates  the  ideal  being  de- 
manded by  the  exigencies  of  the  present  industrial  condition. 

The  end  of  governmental  existence  in  the  protection  of  life  and 
property  and  other  less  pronounced  purposes,  is  the  good  of  every 
citizen,  in  the  line  and  plane  on  which  it  operates.  It  is  the  theory 
and  the  practice  of  good  government  that  every  citizen  shall  share 
equally  in  the  beneficent  results  of  its  intelligence,  care,  power  and 
protection.  Whatever  it  undertakes  it  undertakes  for  all  on  similar 
and  equal  conditions.  It  endeavors  to  express  the  will  of  the  entire 
people  and  in  so  doing,  subserves  the  interests  of  the  entire  people. 

No  other  organized  being  visibly  exists,  the  end  of  whose  existence 
and  operation  so  fully  compasses  the  welfare  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion ;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  such  a  being  in  any  form  or  phase,  could 
be  created  by  society,  to  execute  the  trusts  imposed  on  the  latter  by 
the  invisible  Forces.  I'o  organized  government  then,  we  are  more 
likely  to  look  with  success  for  the  inauguration  of  that  public  enter- 
prise which,  unlike  private  enterprise,  subserves  and  promotes  in  all 
its  operations,  the  general  welfare ;  the  public  good. 

But  we  are  told  that  the  purpose  of  government  is  but  to  protect  life 
and  property.  To  which  assertion  the  reply  is  offered,  that  it  is  the 
function  of  government  to  perform,  in  the  public  interest  any  function 
whatever  that  organized  society, through  the  expressed  will  of  the  people, 
may  impose  upon  it.  Government  is  a  servant  and  trustee  of  So- 
ciety as  society  is  the  trustee  and  servant  of  an  intelligent,  beneficent 
Creator.  The  functions  of  government  are  the  subject  of  continued 
change  and  addition.  What  was  not  recognized  as  the  function  of 
government  centuries  since  is  now  considered  as  of  indispensable  im- 
portance. Addition  to  and  subtraction  from  the  functions  of  gov- 
ernment will  probably  keep  pace  with  industrial  and  social  develop- 


CONSERVATION    OF    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 65 

ment.  Objectors  to  government  management  of  industrial  affairs, 
have  always  come,  will  always  come  from  that  minority  of  the  popula- 
tion, whose  selfish  and  ambitious  interests  and  whose  correspondent 
encroachment  on  the  natural  and  private  rights  of  their  fellows, 
would    be   endangered   and   limited  by   governmental   operations. 

Reasons  advanced  by  this  class  are  manifold,  but  they  cluster  around 
two  principal  thoughts,  viz.:  The  rights  of  the  individual  and  the  de- 
velopment of  individual  character,  and  the  dangers  of  political  influ- 
ence and  public  corruption.  They  do  not  mention,  however,  in  their 
learned  discussions  on  the  benefit  of  individualism,  that  the  particu- 
lar class  of  individuals  to  which  they  refer  is  the  privileged  class  to 
which  they  themselves  beloug.  They  ignore  the  fact  that  an  immense 
class  from  whom  natural  opportunities  and  good  advantages  are  cut 
off,  could  the  more  fully  develop  individuality  of  character,  and 
attain  individual  rights,  were  government  to  take  charge  of 
those  industries — conducting;  them  without  profit,  rent  or  interest — 
which,  returning  immense  revenues  to  private  managers,  deprive, 
through  that  very  revenue,  the  laboring  and  consuming  masses  of 
the  opportunities  of  individual  culture  and  the  enjoyment  of  individ- 
vidual  rights.  It  is  their  own  individualism  and  not  that  of  their 
fellows  about  which  they  are  intensely  concerned. 

A  rank  individualism  connected  with  the  development  of  a  few 
which  must  rise  and  flourish  on  the  impaired  or  suppressed  individual- 
ism of  a  large  population  is  not  to  be  conserved  ;  though  for  temporary 
purposes  of  social  development,  it  may  have  been  tolerated.  Indi- 
vidualism of  so  partial  and  limited  operation  can  be  only  the  step- 
ping-stone to  that  more  universal  individualism,  which  is  also  com- 
patible and  consonant  with  the  most  complete  social  organization. 

When  it  comes  to  pass  that  a  person  may  reach  his  fullest  develop- 
1  iient  by  cultivation  of  his  individual  nature  alone,  then  it  may  happen 
that  a  nation  may  come  to  its  perfected  status  through  culture  alone 
of  the  individual  characteristics  of  its  personnel.  Culture  of  individual 
characteristics  is  best  performed  in  the  midst  of  the  highest  social 
development;  culture  of  social  characteristics  are  achieved  where  in- 
dividuality is  matured.  What  is  true  as  to  the  development  of  a 
person,   s  correspondingly  true  as  regards  a  nation. 

Another  large  class  argue  against  public  enterprise  from  the  mis- 
taken belief  that  individual  effort  and  single  handed  production  have 
characterized  and  yet  characterize  industrial  operations;  that  indi- 
vidualism in  production  is  not  only  possible  but  is  fully  established. 
It  has  already  been  pointed  out*  that  production,  at  the  present 
moment,  is  completely  social  or  co-operative  and  that  individual  life 
on  the  industrial  plane  is  but  the  initiatory  and  transitory  phase  of 
industrial  evolution.     To  return  to  pure  individualism  in  industrial 

*Chapter  VI.  Section  I. 


1 66  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

affairs,  would  be  to  return  to  the  most  primitive  and  simplest  forms 
of  human  life.     The  proposition  is  scarcely  to  be  considered. 

The  other  thought  which  the  opponents  of  public  enterprise  utter 
and  reiterate,  is  that  the  undertaking  of  industrial  enterprise  by  gov- 
ernment would  result  in  pernicious  political  influence  and  public 
corruption.  They  do  not  seem  to  recognize  the  fact  that  by  these 
statements  they  leave  their  flanks  fully  exposed.  Such  a  charge  is 
an  admission  of  the  counter  charge  that  political,  civil  and  industrial 
corruption  have  their  origin  in  private  enterprise.  Whether  admitted 
or  not,  it  is  true ;  true  from  and  through  cause  to  effect.  The  end 
of  private  enterprise  promoted  by  irxdividuals  is  profit ;  the  acquire- 
ment of  much  for  little,  the  accumulation  of  wealth  whether  produced 
by  others — through  business  processes  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  a  high 
sense  of  humanity — or  produced  by  accumulators.  The  end  of  pub- 
lic enterprise  is  the  public  welfare ;  the  protection  of  life  and  property ; 
the  suppression  of  crime  ;  the  promotion  of  tranquility  and  the  es- 
tabhshment  of  justice.  From  which  of  these  two  ends  or  purposes 
would  one  expect  corruption  to  flow? 

The  facts  show  clearly  that  corruption  in  political  and  civil  life,  as 
with  industrial  life,  flows  from  the  greed — love  of  money — of  private 
enterprise.  The  judicial  and  executive  departments  of  government 
are  rarely  tainted  by  corrupting  influences.  The  records  of  the 
United  States  Treasury  show  that  less  percentages  of  loss  occur  in  the 
financial  operations  of  government,  than  with  the  doings  of  private 
enterprise.  During  the  presidency  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  the  losses 
through  peculation,  by  those  handling  immense  sums  of  money  for 
the  nation,  were  $11.71  on  $1,000;  James  Buchanan,  $3.81;  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  76  cents;  U.  S.  Grant,  24  cents;  R.  B.  Hayes,  3 
mills,  and  C.  A.  Arthur,  i  cent  and  3  mills. 

Government  management  of  enterprise  in  any  of  its  extensive  de- 
partments— Treasury,  Post-Ofhce,  War,  Interior — except  where  it 
comes  in  contact  with  the  contaminating  influences  of  private  enter- 
prise, is  comparatively  honest  and  pure.  Its  management  of  the 
three  phases  of  post-office  work — transmission  of  letters,  of  exchange, 
of  goods  in  small  parcels — is  a  marvel  of  efficiency  and  honesty. 
Nevertheless,  from  the  first  successful  struggle,  made  by  Benjamin 
Franklin,  to  wrest  this  enterprise  from  the  express  companies  and 
place  it  in  the  hands  of  government,  until  the  recent  attempts  made 
by  New  York  news  companies  to  displace  the  government  in  that 
city,  the  pretexts  of  ineflficiency  and  corruption  have  been  advanced 
by  those  desiring  to  reduce  the  service  to  the  exacting  despoilments 
of  private  enterprise. 

The  corrupting  influence  of  private  enterprise — the  greed  of  gain, 
the  love  of  money — finds  the  most  accessible  point  of  inroad  upon 
the   honorable  purposes   of  government  in  the  arena  of  legislation — 


CORRUPTION    OF    PRIVATE    ENTERPRISE..  16^ 

through  the  inflnences  of  t'le  lobby — and  in  those  executive  depart  .. 
ments  whose  functions  are  prosecuted  through  contract  with  private 
enterprise.     Legislators   are  especially  assailable  from  the  fact  tha  t 
their  action  is  not  clearly  outlined  by  law;  that  their  public  work  is 
performed  for  the  people  through  the  exercise  of  private  judgment  or 
in  consonance  with  loosely  drawn  political  platforms  which  admit  of 
varied  construction  and  easy  virtue.     Upon   these  tenuous  and  vul 
nerable  points  by  bribery  in  varied  form,  and  threats  which  through 
an   artful  lobby,  touch   hope   and    ambition,  the  insidious    attacks, 
of  private  enterprise  are  made  and  prosecuted. 

Private  enterprise,  with  the  greed  of  wealth,  is  perpetually  surging 
against  tne  ramparts  which  separate  and  defend  the  lofty  purposes, 
ot  government  from  private  contamination.  A  public  avenue  for 
the'  entrance  of  corruption  lies  in  the  contract  system,  and  it  is 
through  this  avenue  that  the  public  work  of  executive  departments 
are  assailed.  It  is  rare  that  peculation  affects  the  public  service 
when  and  where  the  public  is  served  by  its  own  elected  or  appointed 
officials;  but  the  atmosphere  is  rife  with  suspicion,  and  ever  and 
anon  the  proof  is  open  and  abundant  that  government  officials,  legally 
prosecuting  their  work  through  private  contract,  have  connived  with, 
or  yielded  to  the  coercing  influences  of  enterprising  contractors^ 
buying  or  buccaneering  their  way  into  the  public  treasury.  The 
Army,  Navy  and  Indian  departments  have  been  frequently  vampired 
by  private  3  nterprise,  and  the  Post-Office  department  has  suffered 
at  least  one  impeachment  of  its  usually  virtuous  career. 

The  attempt  of  those  objecting  to  the  substitution  of  public  enter^ 
prise  for  private  enterprise,  on  ground  that  public  affairs  are  likely  to. 
become  corrupted  thereby,  is  an  unconscious  and  involuntary  ad- 
mission that  private  enterprise  breeds  defilement;  and  further,  that 
its  promotors  and  apologists  desire  that  industrial  affairs  shall  re- 
main in  tiie  must  and  ruck  of  corruption  that  they  themselves  may 
grow  rich  through  its  polluting  customs,  maxims  and  processes.. 
The  elevation  of  industrial  affairs  to  the  plane  of  public  enterprise 
would  lift  them  out  of  that  contaminating  pool  of  secret,  strategical^ 
gormandizing  industrial  putrescence,  engendereo  and  stimulated  by  ana 
exaggerated  love  of  gai",  and  place  them  in  the  sunlight  of  public 
observation  and  criticism  and  in  an  atmosphere  where  they  would 
draw  character,  life  and  vigor  from  that  el  vated  end  of  industrial 
effort — the  public  welfare.  It  is  not  too  much  to  charge  that  the 
mass  of  opponents  to  increased  assumption,  by  government,  of  indus- 
trial ownership  and  control,  are  those  alone,  who  have  private  axes  of 
ambition  and  greed  to  grind ;  axes  which  are  more  effectively  ground, 
where  the  corruptive  elements  of  private  enterprise  hold  the  strongest 
s  way. 

Another  objection  raised  by  the  opponents  of  private  enterprise 


l68  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

under  charge  of  public  officials,  is  that  private  enterprise  assures 
greater  efficiency  of  management  —  a  greater  executive  ability  and 
more  prompt  service  or  more  perfect  commodity.  To  which  ob- 
jection the  first  reply  is  that  citizens  of  every  nation  conduct 
the  productive  enterprises  which  result  in  natural  wealth  ; 
that  all  citizens  are  at  the  service  of  the  government  and  may  become 
public  officials,  and  usually  at  compensation  below  that  exceptionally 
secured  from  private  sources.  Everywhere,  the  disposition  prevails 
on  the  part  of  men  of  talent  and  ability,  not  only  to  accept,  but  to 
seek  public  employment  and  to  be  satisfied  with  the  compensation. 

The  second  reply  is  a  test  of  the  results  of  public  enterpri  e. 
Whether  in  peace  or  war,  the  work  of  government  sustained  by  the 
power  and  wealth  of  the  nation,  compares  favorably  with  the  similar 
work  of  private  individuals  or  corporations;  and  there  is  no  ground 
for  questioning,  if  public  enterprise  should  enter  new  fields  and  gov- 
t-rnment  undertake  new  duties,  that  the  "same  economy,  promptitude 
and  efficiency  would  mark  the  administration  of  the  new  as  of  the  old. 

Having  considered  objections  to  the  extension  of  public  enterprise 
and  pointed  out  their  interested  source  and  their  selfish  sophistry, 
some  considerations  in  favor  of  the  proposition  are  in  order. 

The  foremost  consideration  which  should  lead  to  extension  of  gov- 
ernmental action  with  reference  to  industrial  affairs,  beyond  the  in- 
spection, limitation,  regulation  and  control  of  private  enterprise^  is 
that  the  end  of  public  enterprise  is  the  public  good — good  which  in- 
cludes supply  to  the  diversified  wants  of  every  citizen. 

The  purposes  of  good  government  and  public  enterprise  are  har- 
monious. In  a  broad  sense,  public  service  of  the  is  the  purpose  of 
government.  The  government  which  undertakes  to  define  and  sap- 
press  crime,  is  engaged  in  public  enterprise  undertaken  for  the  public 
good.  It  is  the  need  of  every  citizen  to  receive  at  the  hand  of  gov- 
ernment, protection  from  the  wiles  and  violence  of  the  outlaw  and 
criminal,  and  over  the  head  of  every  citizen  the  power  behind  the 
law  is  extended,  through  public  enterprise. 

Public  enterprise  has  been  invoked  and  it  has  become  an  undisputed 
function  of  government  to  protect  every  citizen  in  the  possession  and 
enjoyment  of  his  property.  Governmental  enterprise  or  undertaking 
is  theoretically,  and  practically  to  the  extent  that  theory  becomes 
practicalized,  public  enterprise ;  and  the  forms  of  governmental  un- 
dertaking have  advanced  from  the  simple  to  the  complex,  as  civiliza- 
tion has  moved  forward  from  primitive  conditions  to  the  colossal  and 
complicated  interactions  of  the  present.  Public  enterprise  originated 
with  the  origin  of  government.  Its  purpose,  at  initiatory  stages, 
-embodied  the  selfishness  of  the  despot;  but  gradually  the  end  cf 
government,  through  the  limitation  of  individual  power  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  constitutional  forms  and  activities,  has  risen  from  in- 


EXPANSION    OF    PUBLIC    ENTERPRISE.  1 69 

dividual  selfishness  and  ambition,  through  untraceable  advances,  to 
the  highest  possible  aim — the  public  good.  Under  the  impetus  of 
progressive  forces,  the  public  enterprise  of  government  has  rapidly 
expanded  beyond  the  narrow  purposes  of  former  times.  The  fields 
of  charily,  benevolence  and  support  have  been  brought  to  realize  the 
activities  of  public  enterprise.  Hospitals  have  been  established  for  the 
sick  and  lame,  asylums  for  the  blind,  deaf,  dumb  and  insane,  and 
alms-houses  for  the  poor  and  aged,  through  public  institutions  directed 
by  public  enterprise.  Schools  of  all  grades,  from  the  primary  to  the 
university  are  the  result  of  public  enterprise,  undertaken,  pro- 
moted and  supported  by  public  funds  under  the  management  of 
public  officials.  In  all  these  instances  and  to  the  extent  that  their 
operations  reach  the  public  and  affect  the  individual,  the  paramount 
motive  is  the  public  welfare.  While  it  is  to  be  admitted  that  public 
enterprise,  in  many  instances,  falls  short  of  compassing  the  ideal  which 
is  the  end  of  its  activities,  it  is  certain  that  much  better  results  are 
achieved  than  could  be  under  a  lower  and  more  limited  purpose. 
If'one  aims  at  the  sun  he  .is  sure  to  reach  higher  altitudes  than  if  he 
aims  at  the  horizon ;  and  it  cannot  be  successfully  controverted  that 
any  enterprise  conducted  by  public  authorities,  will  accomplish  more 
general  good  to  each  and  every  citizen  than  if  conducted  by  private 
enterprise  to  the  end  of  pHvate  ambition  and  gain.  Private  enter- 
prise may  conduct  industrial  enterprises  with  skill,  and  prosecute 
them,  for  private  ends,  with  great  activity  \  but  sooner  or  later — and 
the  more  active  the  operations,  the  sooner — the  consuming  masses 
must  chew  the  cud  of  bitter  discontent  incident  to  a  rapidly  exhausted 
purchasing  power. 

Another  consideration  in  favor  of  an  extension  of  public  enterprise 
is  connected  with  the  authority  which  stands  behind  it  and  the  power 
which  may  be  called  to  its  support.  The  suggestion  of  authority  as 
connected  with  industrial  matters  savors  of  severity  and  tyranny.  It  is 
unpalatable  to  the  tastes  of  men  who  have  been  licensed  to  act  con- 
cerning industrial  affairs  accordini^  to  their  own  sweet  will  and  to  the 
extent  of  their  industrial  power.  Concerning  authority  in  the  arena  of 
industrial  life,  public  thought  has  but  lightly  touched. 

License  prevails  to  an  extent  and  with  disastrous  results  hardly 
credible;  license  resulting  in  industrial  over-reaching  and  violence, 
and  the  impairment  of  industrial  liberty.  The  world  has 
resounded  with  the  clash  of  arms  wielded  in  favor  of  re- 
ligious, political  and  civil  freedom,  the  freedom  of  personal  thought 
and  action  on  these  highest  planes  of  action ;  but  what  arm,  what 
concentrated  power  has  yet  flung  the  banner  of  industrial  freedom  to 
the  breeze  and  sworn  to  conquer  or  die  in  its  behalf?  And  yet, 
owing  to  fundamental  errors  connected  with  the  establishment  of  all 
civilized  governments,  regarding  the  legal  disposition  of  the  sources 


I 'JO  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

of  wealrh,  a  large  portion  of  the  population  are  the  industrial  de- 
pendents or  slaves  of  the  privileged  class ;  privileged  in  that  to  them 
have  been  given  exclusive  control  of  the  natural  sources  of  wealth 
and  the  consequent  means  of  securing  exclusive  use  of  the  socially 
created  appliances  of  production. 

Licensed  to  exclusive  ownership  and  control  of  these  privileges, 
by  authority  of  goverement — privileges  which  have  been  used  to  op- 
press and  enslave  their  fellow  men — it  is  necessary  that  governmental 
authority  should  step  forward  to  amend  the  errors  of  its  primitive  dis- 
positions ;  to  equalize,  by  that  authority  which,  in  other  matters,  is 
recognized  as  paramount  and  universal,  either  the  holding  of  the 
means  of  production  or  the  enjoyment  of  resultant  wealth.  Hence, 
legal  authority,  embodied  in  more  just  laws  inspired  not  only  by  that 
high  motive  "  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,"  but  by  that 
higher  end  the  greatest  good  to  all^  is  likely  to  be,  as  it  should  be, 
welcomed  to  the  industrial  arena  as  it  has  been  to  the  religious,  po- 
litical and  civil ;  is  likely  to  be  forced  by  the  will  of  the  people  to 
rectify  or  eliminate  the  industrial  wrongs,  for  whose  presence  and 
power  it  is  greatly  responsible. 

To  hold  industrial  evolution  to  its  most  beneficient  courses,  to  give 
it  that  wide  and  profound  scope  of  action  inspired  by  the  broad  im- 
pulses of  human  wants,  authority,  governmental  authority,  requires  a 
new   and  effective  extension  into  and  through  the  industrial  arena. 

Thousands  of  men,  under  varying  conditions,  prompted  by  their 
priva  e  interests  stand  ready,  at  all  times,  to  obstruct  movements 
whose  end  is  the  public  good.  For  the  public  welfare  these  ob- 
structionists must  be  overcome  or  removed,  and  the  power  to  do  so 
exists  alone  in  that  instrumentality  of  the  public — government. 

Government  organized  and  sustained  in  the  general  interest,  alone 
can  effect  directly  the  wants  of  every  citizen  ;  and  through  its  au- 
thority, the  industrial  effort  of  every  citizen  can  be  brought  to  bear 
not  only  on  his  own  particular  but  the  general  good. 

Co-ordinate  with  authority  goes  responsibility.  As  regards  important 
phases  of  industrial  life,  responsibility,  like  authority,  knows  but  a 
partial  operation,  PoAcr  has  increasingly  asserted  itself  over  the 
action  of  individuals,  and,  in  the  civil  arena,  responsibility  has  main- 
tained a  corresponding  movement  ;  but  responsibility  for  the  indus- 
trial conditions  of  a  nation  have  affected  the  public  conscience  and 
sense  of  honor  too  little. 

It  has  been  tacitly  assumed  that  as  regards  provision  of  food, 
clothing  and  shelter,  every  citizen,  no  matter  what  the  conditions 
which  have  marked  the  opening  of  his  industrial  career,  is  competent 
to  secure  ample  provision  for  his  physical  wants ;  and  society,  in  its, 
as  yet,  but  partially  organized  condition,  has  le  ft  each  person  to  work 
out  success  not  only  alone  and  unaided,  but  h  o- ndicapped  by  unequal 


GOVERNMENT  NOT  AN  ACCUMULATOR.  171 

conditions.  Unequal  results  that  have  followed,  the  public  have 
wantonly  left  without  ample  and  thorough  consideration.  It  has 
striven  for  no  knowledge  of  the  outfit  which  awaits  the  advent  of 
each  individual  to  his  struggle  for  subsistence,  and  assumed  no  re- 
sponsibility. 

That  society,  according  to  the  extent  and  perfection  of  its  organ- 
ization is  responsible  for  the  condition  of  the  individual  no  room  is 
left  for  reasonable  doubt.  Down  to  the  line  of  industrial  action  it 
has  assumed  and  maintained  responsibilit) .  It  has  exercised  restrain- 
ing power  below  that  line,  but  its  assumption  of  responsibility  to  sustain 
has  been  fragmentary  and  transitory.  And  on  this  failure  to  aid,  sus- 
tain and  regulate  a  proper  division  of  the  common  heritage,  securing 
to  each  person  an  equitable  use  of  the  sources  of  subsistence  and  the 
implements  for  their  transformation  into  commodity,  depends  largely 
the  existence  of  that  "  empire  of  misery  that  lies  at  the  bottom  of  our 
boasted  civilization."  Individual  intelligence  and  effort  are  indispen- 
sable; but  it  is  false  to  assert  that,  exclusive  of  conditions,  individ- 
uals can  achieve  a  competent  subsistence  by  intelligence  and  effort. 
Some  must  come,  as  up  to  this  period  many  have  come  to  hunger, 
nakedness  and  distress  and  be  sustained  by  charity.  For  the  preva- 
lent conditions  of  miserable  millions,  society  is  responsible ;  respon- 
sible for  the  want  of  requisite  education  and  art ;  responsible  for  the 
application  of  intelligence  in  effective  efiort  and  absolutely  responsi- 
ble for  the  unequal  distribution  of  opportunities.  The  distribution 
of  opportunities  is  the  work  of  society  alone  ;  and  without  opportunity 
no  man  can  bbor,  and  without  equal  opportunities  and  facilities  one 
must  be  surpassed  and  beaten  back  by  those  who  possess  them. 

Every  government  maintains  its  own  scheme  of  distribution  of 
land,  raw  material  and  the  quota  of  provisions  which  nature  supplies ; 
its  own  system  of  industrial  appliances  and  the  measures  whereby 
they  may  be  acquired,  and  its  methods  and  means  of  exchange;  and 
everywhere  these  indispensable  means  of  self-employment  and  inde- 
pendent subsistence  have  been  parceled  out  to  favorites  or  to  those 
who  have  come  or  been  born  or  arrived  at  maturity  first,  leaving  all 
subsequent  distribution  to  follow  certain  fortuitous  fines  of  heredity — 
lines  which  naturally  lead  to  further  concentration  rather  than  to  an 
equitable  distribution.  Society  violates  the  law  of  an  ample  equity 
in  that  it  leaves  the  distribution  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  means 
of  employment  to  variable  and  fortuitous  circumstances;  and  is  fully 
responsible  to  all  sufferers  through  its  failure  to  maintain  an  adjust- 
able system  of  distribution  either  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  appli- 
ance of  production,  or  of  the  results  of  their  conjoint  use. 

When  society  fully  recognizes  the  false  position  it  occupies  with 
relation  to  the  trust  imposed  upon  it  by  the  intelligent  beneficent 
Force  and  the  responsibility  devolved  upon  it  to  assure  the  well-being 


172  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

of  every  person  within  the  limits  of  its  sway,  then  it  will  either  go 
back  to  first  principles,  place  all  individuals  on  an  equal  footing  as 
to  sources  of  wealth,  or  go  forward  by  way  of  public  enterprise  and 
insure  an  equitable  distribution  of  commodiiy  to  all  consumers.  It 
will,  it  must  go  forward  ;  the  days  of  isolated,  independent  industrial 
individualism  are  passed. 

In  that  it  stimulates  the  recognition  of  social  responsibility,  the 
gradual  introduction  of  public  enterprise  will  involve  an  economic 
advance,  carrying  forward  a  host  of  equities  and  increasmg  the  phys- 
ical well-being  of  all  citizens.  On  the  other  hand,  responsibility 
once  recognized  will  insure  the  rapid  promotion  of  publie  enterprise. 
Public  enterprise  will  lead  to  that  desirable  result,  a  more  equitable 
distribution  of  wealth.  Government  does  not  subsist  for  the 
gathering  of  wealth  which  it  cannot  use  ;  it  exists  that  it  may  at  once 
impart  all  it  gathers  for  the  immediate  benefit  of  all  citizens  ;  and 
whatever  measures,  antagonistic  to  this  idea,  may  be  adopted  by  these 
in  power,  to  that  extent  do  they  subvert  the  better  ends  of  govern- 
ment. On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  specific  end  of  piivate  enterprise 
to  pile  up  commodities  without  limit  and  in  the  accumulation,  it 
comes  about  that  an  equitable  distribution  of  wealth  is  rendered 
impossible. 

It  has  been  shown  that  all  pernicious  accumulations,  those  which 
determine  the  relative  conditions  of  wealth  and  poverty  are  effected 
by  processes  which  draw  the  results  of  other  men's  labors  to  the  gar- 
ners of  the  accumulators.  No  man  secures  large  wealth  by  his  own 
labor.  The  landlord  secures  large  wealth  by  excluding  other  men 
from  the  use  of  land  on  their  own  account  and  compelling  them  to 
turn  over  to  him  in  the  form  of  rent,  a  portion  of  the  results  of  their 
labor. 

The  industrial  leader,  the  promoter  of  active  enterprise,  secures 
large  accumulations  by  excluding,  through  certain  complex  measures 
— involving  the  ownership  of  land,  raw  material,  machinery,  pro- 
visions and  money — other  men  from  the  means  of  successful  self- 
employment  and  forces  them  to  a  private  contract  for  their  services, 
which  leaves  in  his  hands  the  results  of  their  labor,  minus  subsistence. 

The  industrial  leader  who  has  made  large  accumulations  by  ab- 
sorbing the  profit  of  other  men's  labor,  and  desire  to  secure  further 
accumulation  not  only  from  the  manual  labor  but  from  the  risks  and 
management  of  others,  exchanges  his  goods  for  money  and  puts  the 
money  at  interest. 

Borrowed  money  furnishes  a  precarious  opportunity  to  the  bor- 
rower to  reach  the  natural  and  social  means  of  self-advancement. 
A  large  portion  of  the  result  of  his  labor — in  some  instances  all,  in 
others  losses  of  values  secured  by  previous  labor — goes,  through  in- 
terest, into  the  hands  of  the  capitalistic  money-lender. 


PROGRESSIVE    NATIONALIZATION.  I  73 

All  accumulations  secured  without  labor  through  rent,  profit  and 
interest,  are  pernicious  accumulations.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
these  industrial  elements  have  become  so  intimately  associated  with 
labor;  that  close  analysis  and  clear  conception  alone  enables  one  to 
recognize  the  lines  of  demarcation ;  but  it  is  a  truth  that  rent,  profit 
and  interest,  distinguished  and  separated  from  labor  are  pure  ex- 
actions which  can  find  no  harmonious  ground  whatever  in  strict 
justice*. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  vast  accumulations  of  wealth  in  the 
hands  of  a  few  result  in  widespread  misery  and  poverty  to  many  ;  it 
has  been  shown  that  vast  accumulations  come  to  the  pessessors  not 
by  their  own  labor  alone,  but  through  drafts  upon  the  labor  of  other 
men  ;  through  fundamental  exclusions  from  the  sources  of  wealth  and 
means  of  employment ;  by  means  of  rent  of  land,  profits  on  production 
and  interest  on  money  ;  it  is  an  indisputable  inference  that  the  equit- 
able distribution  of  wealth,  that  phase  of  industrial  life  which  yet  re- 
sists the  advancing  principle  of  co-operation,  is  defeated  through  the 
accumulative  processes  involved  in  the  exaction  of  rent,  profit  and 
interest,  and  that  the  true  measure  of  distribution — a  measure  which 
prevent  vast  accumulations  of  wealth  and  eliminate  extensive 
and  distressing  poverty — labor,  receives  no  adequate  recognition. 

The  theory  of  compensation  to  labor  as  a  distributive  measure,  is 
dimly  outlined  and  scantily  practicalized  by  industrial  leaders  and 
writers  upon  economic  philosophy ;  but  so  much  more  regard  is  paid 
to  payment  of  rent,  profit  and  interest,  or  the  so-called  compensation 
of  land,  capital  and  enterprise,  that  the  labor  factor,  which  is  the  only 
real  and  just  measure  of  distribution,  is  practically  neglected.  It  is 
in  the  line  of  private  enterprise  to  prolong  the  clamor  of  compensa- 
tion for  land,  capital  and  wealth  ;  it  is  the  very  essence  of  public  en- 
terprise conducted  by  government  after  having  equally  distributed  or 
socialized   the    common   heritage  in  land,  raw  material,  provisions, 

*Profit  is  commonly  so  interlaced  with  compensation  for  labor— lime  and  results 
—that  Its  injustice  is  not  so  easy  of  demonstration  as  is  the  injustice  of  reut  and  iu- 
terest.  Profit  which  involves  only  an  average  compensation  for  time  and  services 
is  just ;  but  beyond  that  point  exaction  and  injustice  begins.  The  injustice  of  rent 
r<ists  on  the  self-evident  proposition  that  land  was  created  for  the  use  of  all  who 
have  been  invited  to  a  residence  on  the  earth  by  the  Creator.  Every  man  iai  entitled 
to  its  free  use;  his  use  being  limited  by  the  equal  right  of  other  men  to  use.  Laws 
which  give  exclusive  use  of  the  earth  s  surface  either  for  productive  or  residence 
purposes,  inaugurate,  and  private  land-owners  complete  the  excluding  injustice  of 
rent.  The  Creator  says  to  every  human  being,  '  Live  freely  on  the  earth'  ;  the  lin 
man  says,  "Not  unless  you  labor  a  portion  of  your  time  for  me."  The  injustice  of 
interest  arises  from  a  similar  exclusion  of  men  from  the  use  of  money  which  is  a 
social  production,  as  land  is  a  natural  production.  Society  produces  money  and 
charges  no  man  interest  and  no  interest  should  be  exacted  by  one  man  from  an- 
other; audit  would  not  be  exacted  unless  through  a  combination  of  exactions,  the 
borrower  had  been  deprivea  of  the  use  of  his  portion  of  the  common  heritage  in 
money.  Society  and  government,  its  authorized  agent,  stand  in  the  same  relation 
with  money  as  the  invisible  Force  stands  with  relation  to  land.  Both  are  creators, 
and  free  use  of  the  products  of  creation  is  a  common  heritage.  It  has  been  the  work 
of  private  enterprise  to  iay  aside  principles  of  justice  regarding  rent,  profit  and  in- 
terest, and  it  is  the  future  work  of  society,  through  public  enterprise,  to  re-establish 
that. justice  which  the  individual,  through  private  enterprise,  has  overthrown. 


174  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS 

machinery  and  money — so  that  compensation  for  their  use  cannot 
be  enforced — to  eliminate  the  elements  of  rent,  profit  and  interest, 
and  to  leave  labor  as  the  sole  and  just  measure  of  distribution. 

That  public  enterprise  tends  to  eliminate  rent,  profit  and  interest 
and  to  establish  labor  as  a  measure  of  distribution  is  to  be  demon- 
strated by  reference  to  the  facts.  It  involves  the  slow,  gradual  and  pro- 
gressive nationalization  of  the  requisite  land,  of  the  requisite  raw  mate- 
rial, of  the  requisite  provisions,  of  the  requisite  forms  and  quantities  of 
tools,  implements  and  machinery,  of  the  appliances  of  exchange,  and 
the  appropriate  labor,  in  its  different  degrees  of  skill  and  phases  of 
application.  To  secure  required  results,  the  nationalization  of  land  is 
no  more  imperative  than  the  nationalization  of  raw  material,  provisions, 
machinery,  money  and  labor.  Each  of  these  are  indispensable  factors 
of  successful  production.  Nor  iri  the  nationalization  of  these  factors 
does  it  become  necessary  that  all  land,  all  raw  material,  all  provis- 
ions, all  machinery,  all  money  or  all  labor  shall  be  at  once  national- 
tzed.  The  change  from  private  to  public  enterprise  can  be  under- 
taken and  successfully  accomplished — accomplished  without  pro- 
ducing industrial  convulsions  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  society — only  step  by  step. 

Nor  from  this  point  of  vision  does  it  appear  requisite  that  all  in- 
dustry, should  be  at  once  nationalized.  From  some  future  distant 
standpoint  ultimate  and  complete  nationalization  may  be  seen  to  be 
compatible  with  the  highest  development  and  the  widest  liberty  of 
the  individual. 

But  what  we  of  this  period  must  bear  in  mind  is  that  private  en- 
terprise must — and  it  may  be  predicted  will — be  displaced  only  at 
those  points  and  along  those' lines  upon  which,  and  just  so  rapidly  as, 
the  public  good  demands.  It  is  not  advisable,  however  sweeping 
and  far-reaching  may  be  the  projected  plan  of  operations — it  may  be 
assumed  to  be  impossible,  considering  the  counter-balancing  interests 
— to  force  the  evolution  of  industry  into  a  pace  the  rapidity  of  which 
will  disrupt  the  present  organization  of  society. 

But  if  public  enterprise,  to  any  extent  whatever,  displaces  private 
enterprise,  to  that  extent  it  must  involve  the  fractional  nationalization 
of  the  indispensable  factors  of  production  and  distribution.  Thus, 
if  transportation  passes  by  the  mandate  of  the  people  from  private 
to  public  enterprise,  the  land  requisite  for  stations,  depots,  roadways, 
sidetracks,  will,  through  purchase,  pass  into  national  domain  ;  the 
raw  or  finished  material  of  fuel,  of  rails,  of  ties,  of  locomotives,  cars 
— passenger  and  freight — and  all  requisite  forms  and  phases  of  tools, 
implements  and  machinery  would,  by  maunfacture  or  purchase,  be- 
come nationalized ;  nationalization  might  pass  to  the  provisions  re- 
quired to  feed  and  clothe  the  nationalized  labor,  or  it  might  not ;  that 
portion  of  money  which  now  floats  here  and  there,  through  the  arenas 


PUBLIC    ENTERPRISE    ELIMINATES    EXACTION.  1 75 

•of  industrial  life,  must  needs  come  into  and  flow  out  of  the  national 
treasury.  Labor,  intellectual  or  manual,  managerial  or  performing, 
from  superintendent  to  fireman,  from  the  chief  of  bureau  to  trades- 
man, would  be  nationalized  through  public  employment.  The 
nationalization  of  the  factors  of  transportation  does  not,  however, 
touch  other  land,  other  material — raw  or  ripe — other  provisions, 
other  money  or  other  labor  engaged  in  other  enterprises.  Public  en- 
erprise  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  so  far  as  its  operation  reaches,  it 
repudiates  and  practically  eliminates  the  exactions  of  rent,  profit  and 
interest ;  exactions  which  are  the  chief  stimulus  of  private  enterprise 
conducted  as  it  is  for  private  advantage  and  greed.  It  also  places  men 
and  their  labor  in  that  important  industrial  position  which  they  should 
occupy  and  makes  their  effort  the  measure  of  distribution — distribu- 
tion not  only  of  the  results  of  labor  but  of  each  laborer's  interest  in 
the  common  heritage,*  which,  through  public  enterprise  and  the  pro- 
cess of  nation  alization  is  again  made  common.  This  is  proved  by 
reference  to  the  facts  of  public  enterprise  so  far  as  it  has  taken  pos- 
session of  the  industrial  world. 

We  know  most  of  that  phase  of  public  enterprise  comprised  in  the 
Post-ofiice  Department  and  managed  by  government.  It  is  as  yet 
but  in  its  infancy,  working  under  difficulties  and  surrounded  by  all 
the  greedy  and  exacting  influences  of  private  enterprise.  Operating 
in  an  open  sea  of  private  influences,  customs  and  laws,  government, 
though  it  pays  profit  and  interest  indirectly  to  private  parties  through 
contracts  made  for  materials  and  services,  though  it  pays  rent  for 
post-offices,  it  demands  for  itself  no  rent,  no  profit,  no  interest. 
Whatever  rent,  profit  or  interest  it  pays^f  to  private  parties  is  charged 
up  in  cost.  The  service,  as  is  the  service  of  all  public  enterprise, 
is  rendered  at  cost.  By  ownership  of  its  own  fixtures  it  would  be  freer 
from  the  exactions  of  private  enterprise ;  its  expenditures  would  ex- 
clude all  rent,  profit  and  interest  and  include  compensation  for  hu- 
man labor,  which  it  cannot  own ;  and,  affected  by  such  current  equi- 
ties of  compensation  for  labor  as  now  obtain,  human  labor 
would  become,  as  it  is  now  proximately,  the  true  measure  of  distri- 
bution. 

Government  stands  before  the  world  with  reference  to  these  stand- 
ard exactions — this  trinity  of  vampires  upon  the  economic  body — as 


*The  principle  of  distribution  adopted  by  tbe  most  advanced  economic  writers  is 
that  the  laborer  is  entitled  to  the  results  of  his  own  labor.  This  principle  is  want- 
ing and  erratic  in  that  no  disposition  is  made  of  the  common  heritage  in  land,  raw 
material,  natural  provisions  and  primitive  appliances  of  production  and  exchange. 
That  the  result  of  a  man's  labor  should  be  the  measiLre  of  his  interest  in  the  nation- 
al, wealth  is  the  result  of  creative  as  well  as  human  labor;  the  former  active  day 
and  night,  winter  and  summer,  while  human  labor  operates  in  production  about 
half  the  day  and  not  all  the  year.  This  error  arises  from  the  concurrent  fundament- 
al economic  error  that  all  values  are  produced  by  human  labor. 

f Were  this  public  enterprise  organized  as  it  might  be,  it  would  own  its  own  fix- 
tures, materials  and  appliances,  and  pay  only  its  employed  labor. 


176  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

a  single  individual  might  stand  in  a  community  given  up  totally  to 
the  principles  and  practices  of  private  enterprise.  Let  us  suppose 
him  to  be  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  wagon-hubs,  spokes  and 
felloes.  If  this  votary  of  private  enterprise  owned  his  own  land, 
buildings  and  fixtures  he  would  have  no  rent  to  pay ;  if  he  was  sup- 
plied with  abundance  of  machinery  and  money,  or  better,  could  create 
it,  he  would  have  no  interest  to  pay  ;  if  he  owned  his  own  forests  of 
raw  material,  he  would  pay  no  profit  on  the  material  which  came  to 
his  hand  for  transformation.  He  would  then  have  but  labor  to  com- 
pensate, and  could  turn  out  his  commodity  to  wagon-makers  at  pr,im- 
itive  cost,  and  labor,  his  own  included — the  economic  myths  of  land 
a^nd  capital  excluded — would  equitably  divide  the  proceeds  of  this 
adventure,  conducted  not  for  the  accumulative  purposes  of  private 
enterprise,  but  for  the  sake  of  his  own  subsistence,  the  subsistence  of 
his  employes  and  the  general  economic  good  of  the  community. 
Such  a  man,  in  the  greedy  money-getting  period  of  this  advancing 
civilization  would  be  adjudged  as  insane.  His  sanity  would  be 
trumpeted  to  his  fellows  were  he  to  add  to  his  sum  of  costs,  current 
rates  of  rent  for  his  land,  buildings  and  fixtures,  current  interest  for 
the  money  used,  and  current  profits  not  only  on  the  raw  material 
cut,  sawed  and  hauled,  but  on  the  timber  finished  and  turned  out  to 
his  customers ;  and  he  would  be  deemed  wise  and  sagacious  did  he 
control  the  production  of  hubs,  spokes  and  felloes,  were  he  to  ad- 
vance the  price  beyond  cost,  to  the  highest  figures  the  traffic  would 
bear ;  sane,  wise  and  sagacious  that  he  crowded  down  the  wages  of 
his  employes  to  values,  which,  of  no  present  use  to  him  in  the  sup- 
ply of  his  wants,  might  at  some  future  time — all  future  time  being  an 
unknown  factor — supply  the  wants  of  his  indolent  improvident 
and  debauched  descendants.  In  this  day  insanity  stands  adjudged 
as  sanity  ! 

Thus,  private  and  public  enterprise  stand  face  to  face  over  a  con- 
tention which  is  destined  to  shake  existing  institutions  to  their  found- 
ations ;  the  one  championing  the  cause  of  human  greed,  the  right  of 
exclusion  from  common  heritage,  the  exaction  of  rent,  profit  and 
interest,  as  compensation  to  industrial  leadership,  the  accumulation 
of  vast  wealth  into  the  possession  of  the  few,  and  poverty  and  nig- 
gardly existence  for  the  many ;  the  other  battling  for  the  public  good 
and  the  general  welfare,  against  exclusion  to  even  the  weakest  and 
humblest,  for  the  elimination  of  rent,  profit  and  interest,  and  for  the 
fullestrecognition  of  labor  in  all  forms  and  phases  as  the  best  title  to 
an  equitable  portion  of  the  nation's  wealth.  Private  enterprise  proposes 
in  theory,  to  equitably  individualize  all  the  industrial  factors  ;  but  it 
equitably  individualizes  nothing  ;  it  favors  and  promotes  a  plutocracy  as 
in  the  ownership  of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  appliance  of  production ; 
it  socializes  and  combines  production  into  a  complete  co-operation,  and 


PUBLIC    AND    PRIVATE    ENTERPRISE    CONTRASTED.  177 

manages  distribution  to  the  establishment  of  a  plutocracy  of  wealth. 
Public  enterprise  socializes  the  sources  of  wealth  and  appliances  of 
production,  manages  production  under  the  principle  of  equitable 
co-operation  and  distribution,  and  individualizes  all  wealth  produced 
according  to  labor  applied  to  each  and  every  citizen.  Private  enter- 
prise which  appears  to  be  individual  in  its  operation,  gives  no  con- 
sideration whatever  to  the  large  mass  of  individuals  whereas  public 
enterprise,  which  seems  to  stimulate  and  promote  social  industry, 
results  in  full  and  direct  consideration  and  supply  of  the  wants  of 
the  individual. 

Piivate  enterprise  makes  a  few  rich  and  crowds  down  the  mass  of 
laborers  to  mere  subsistence ;  and  maintaining  without  supporting,  a 
vast  army  of  unemployed  as  a  menace  to  the  employed,  abandons  mill- 
ions to  the  degradation  of  alms  and  the  tender  mercies  of  charity. 

Public  enterprise  equalizes  the  wealth  of  the  nation  and  promotes 
no  vast  accumulations ;  duly  compensates  all  laborers  and  tends  as, 
it  is  extended,  to  remove  the  degradation  and  misery  of  pauperism. 


\ 


<^:->* 


178  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

DRIFT    OF    THE    FORCES    TOWARD   CO- 
OPERATIVE  DISTRIBUTION. 
CHAPTER  VII.    SEC  HON  I. 

But  in  the  presence  of  the  uplifting  forces  the  earnest  procession 
of  events,  guided  by  unerring  wisdom  and  incited  by  unbounded 
love,  the  argument  of  mortal  man,  his  surmises,  deductions  and 
generalization,  are  of  small  moment. 

Let  us  look  to  the  overhanging  skies  and  to  the  ever  restless  ocean, 
and  mark  the  swaying  of  the  winds  and  the  drifting  of  the  tides ; 
let  us  consider  the  invisible  promotings  and  gather  knowledge  not 
only  of  what  is,  but,  if  possible,  infer  what  is  to  be. 

To  those  who  think  of  the  earth  as  a  theater  of  events  inaugurated 
and  directed  by  an  invisible  Power,  the  enterprises  and  purposes  and 
plans  of  men,  in  the  regulation  even  of  their  own  destiny,  individual 
or  collective,  hold  but  secondary  consideration.  Men  may  purpose, 
plan  and  execute  in  furtherance  of  cherished  results,  but  their  limited 
power  not  only  takes  on  the  semblance  of  impotence,  but  their  most 
strenuous  exertions  often  coAstitute  the  most  powerful  influence 
which  results,  through  unrecognized  forces  and  devices,  human  and 
divine,  in  their  sudden  defeat  and  their  destructive  overthrow.  A  no- 
table illustration  of  this  truth  is  the  slave-holder's  rebellion  in  the 
Southern  States  of  America.  They  inaugurated  a  war  in  defense  of 
negro  slavery,  which,  through  the  execution  of  a  mere  determination 
on  the  part  of  the  administration  to  save  the  Union,  overthrew  their 
cherished  institution. 

Similar  forces  are  now  operating  in  every  civilized  nation  of  the 
globe  to  overthrow,  another  form  of  industrial  oppression.  The 
pernicious  influence  which  built  up  and  sustains  another  violation  of 
human  liberty,  is  destined,  unless  it  curbs  its  love  of  weal.h  and 
power,  to  become  the  most  active  factor  for  its  own  overthrow. 

That  form  of  industrial  oppression  is  embodied  in  private  enter- 
prise; and  while  it  is  within  the  possibilities  that  private  enterprise 
may  shake  oft  the  incubus  which  is  making  its  reign  a  reign  of  indus- 
trial plunder  and  misery,  the  more  reasonable  presumption  is  that  it 
will  go  down  with  the  load  of  injustice  on  its  back  and  both  perish 
together. 

The  question  that  we  now  consider  is,  does  the  drift  of  events — 
the  facts  and  forces,  the  growths  and  movements  of  industrial  life — 
indicate   the  decadence  of  private  enterprise  and  the  occupatior.  of 


THE    LOWER    FORCES.  I  79 

its  fields  and  administration  of  its  functions  by  something  better?  It 
will  be  attempted  to  show  briefly  that  it  does. 

Attention  hai  been  directed  to  the  fact  that  industrial  individualism 
is  of  short  life ;  that  when  two  men  become  neighbors,  the  social 
element  asserts  itself  and  cooperation  begins  its  industrial  career 
through  the  division  of  labor  and  perpetuates  itself  through  exchange  ; 
and  that  it  has  gradually  become  and  is  now  the  controlling  principle 
of  all  productive  processes.  The  details  of  this  gradual  evolution  it  is 
not  necessary,  even  if  it  were  possible,  here  to  outline.  Attention 
has  been  further  drawn  to  the  truth  that  comT)etition  which  stimulates 
industrial  life  to  the  verge  of  desperation  and  colors  its  every  phase, 
is  essentially  the  struggle  of  }>roducers  one  with  the  other,  for  the 
wealth  produced  ;  it  involves  the  matter  of  distribution. 

It  has  been  noted  that  capitalism,  or  industrial  leadership  in  mod- 
ern enterprise,  is  based  upon,  secured  and  established  through  ac- 
quirement of  the  sources  of  wealth  and  appliances  of  production  by 
a  few  laborers,  favored  by  nature  and  circumstance  over  their  fellows; 
and  it  has  been  remarked  that,  while  competition  affects  the  interests 
of  employes,  to  a  degree  disastrous  to  the  weak  and  ignorant, 
the  center  of  its  life  lies  in  the  struggle  of  employers,  one  with  and  all' 
with  one,  for  the  prizes  of  industry.  The  herculean  effort  which  incites 
the  industrial  world  and  gives  character  to  its  operations  is  the  com- 
petitive conflict,  carried  to  the  extreme  of  individual  and  corporate 
power  that  everywhere  rages  between  employers.  Through  the 
perpetual  competitive  struggle  of  employers  who  have  inaugurated 
and  brought  co-operative  production  to  its  present  high  standard  of 
CiTectiveness,  competition  has  been  forced  upon  employers,  and  con- 
sumers are  taught  to  contend  for  the  lowest  prices.  Justice  and 
peace  are  of  secondary  importance ;  war  everywhere  prevails  for 
subsistence,  comfort  or  luxury ;  war  for  ease,  position,  power  and 
personal  sovereignty. 

But  in  the  midst  and  out  of  this  vast  tempest  of  industrial  war  have 
emerged,  are  emerging  the  benign  forces  and  intelligences  which  in- 
spire the  growing  love  of  humanity  and  justice;  forces  and  intelli- 
gence which,  deriving  origin  in  the  Divine  Love,  permeate  even  the 
lowest  and  crudest  phases  of  industrial  contention  and  give  prospect 
of  a  better  day ;  forces  and  intelligences,  which,  embodied  in  human 
form  are  destined  to  curb,  restrain,  direct  and  transform,  even  the 
contentions  and  industrial  violence  of  employers,  employees  and  con- 
sumers into  a  permanent  disposition  to  regulate  industrial  affairs  to  a 
just  and  humane  standard. 

These  humanitarian  forces  overhang,  surround,  flow  into  and  per- 
meate the  grosser  principles  and  elements  of  business  contentions 
giving  unconscious  touch  and.  determination,  when  and  where  the 
least  supposed.     There  are  ever  busy,  watchful,  penetrative  and  in- 


l8o  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

fluential.  Sympathy,  tenderness,  love,  humanity,  justice,  belong 
exclusively  to  no  one  class  of  the  industrial  factors.  They  emanate 
from  the  personnel  of  all  factors  of  industrial  life.  They  well  up 
from  the  affections  and  thoughts' of  the  successful  and  wealthy  as 
froB  those  of  the  anxious,  defeated,  oppressed  and  miserable. 
Through  the  noise  and  smoke  of  battle,  over  the  fierce  struggle  of 
narrow  and  selfish  interests,  upon  a  universal  system  of  industrial 
vampirism,  they  wave  olive  branches  of  peace,  and  point  out  av- 
enues to  universal  prosperity  and  satisfaction.  They  entice  the  soul 
from  its  sordid  seductions  and  arouse  humanity  to  aspirations  for 
industrial  conditions  more  equitable  and  merciful. 

To  the  direction  and  energy  of  these  two  forces  with  their  corres- 
ponding intelligences — the  purely  and  cruely  business,  the  truly  and 
tenderly  beneficent — those  who  would  presage  the  course  of  indus- 
trial evolution,  must  give  careful  and  disinterested  attention. 

The  reader  is  invited  first  and  principally  to  considerations  of  the 
former.  Civilized  humanity  is  yet  full  of  the  spirit  of  conflict.  It 
takes  on  the  industrial  plane  the  name  and  form  of  competition.  It 
is  industrial  force  against  industrial  force,  and  the  person  or  corpo- 
ration which  succeeds  in  concentrating  the  largest  force  agiinst  in- 
dustrial antagonists,  takes  the  industrial  prize. 

Concentration  of  industrial  forces  under  private  enterprise,  involves 
the  aggregation  of  land,  material,  men,  machinery  and  money  to  be 
used  for  a  single  purpose  and  under  one  management.  The  prerequis- 
ites of  industrial  enterprise,  it  will  be  noted,  bear  marked  resemblance 
to  the  prerequisites  of  military  enterprise.  The  civilized  world  im- 
agines, and  prides  itself,  that  it  has  passed  from  conditions  of  war  to 
peace;  it  is  not  so,  war  has  been  merely  transferred  from  the  military 
to  the  industrial  plane. 

So  long  as  the  economic  interests  of  an  entire  nation  are  left  to  a 
thousand  centres  of  interest  and  management,  so  long  as  private  en- 
terprise with  individual  ambition  and  greed  as  the  purpose  of  its  ex- 
istence, holds  economic  sway,  so  long  will  industrial  war  with  its  con- 
comitants of  cruelty,  suffering,  poverty  and  crime,  continue  to 
devastate,  in  the  very  arena  where  it  creates  and  constructs. 

But  this  war  of  industrial  competition  is  moving  forward,  step  by 
step,  incited  by  its  own  pernicious  and  selfish  ends,  to  that  harmony, 
peace  and  justice  for  which  it  is  said  all  wars  are  waged.  Beginning 
with  the  single  individual  and  stimulated  ever  by  the  wants  and 
greeds'^  of  the  individual,  and  fighting  singly  every  other  person,  it 
has  rapidly  advanced  through  successive  grades  of  combination ;  and 
at  each  step  it  has  introduced  more  largely  that  element  of  co-oper- 
ative distribution  which  is  the  goal  of  industrial  development.  Where 

♦Greed  is  want  carried  to  the  stimulated  degree  and  intensity  of  modified  insanity. 
Want  is  a  healthy  phase  of  industrial  purpose;  greed  a  diseased  condition  of  the 


ORIGIN    OF   CO-OPERATIVE    DISTRIBUTION.  l8l 

two  mechanics  or  merchants  have  individually  competed,  one  with  tl  e 
other,  they  have  later  combined  on  a  harmonious  agreement  to  work 
together,  and  divide  equitably  the  results  of  their  combined  enterprise. 

Where  among  the  industrial  forces  enterprise  originated,  there  in 
the  partnership  also  originated  this  germ  of  co-operative  distribution. 
But  do  not  suppose  these  men  are  prompted  to  unite  by  an  especial 
love  of  equity /^r  j^.  Few  men  love  equity  itself;  nevertheless,  at 
this  point  originates  distribution  of  results  of  combined  production — 
work  on  the  basis  of  equity;  equity,  not  because  its  operation  is 
worthy  of  extension  to  all,  but  because  it  is  selfishly  good  for  the  two 
parties  to  the  transaction.  Here  begins  that  co-operative  distribution 
for  the  result  of  which  the  world  is  in  evident  expectancy,  rhis  is 
the  germinal  cell  that  is  destined  to  produce  and  perpetuate 
multitudinous,  efficient  and  beneficent  posterity. 

When  two  or  more  peers  enter  into  a  negotiation  and  combine  for 
a  given  industry,  being  peers,  equity  and  justice  between  themselves 
must  always  be  a  consideration.  Absolute  justice  may  not  be 
reached,  but  the  soil  in  which  it  grows,  viz. :  agreement,  co-operation 
or  combination,  is  prepared,  and  the  growth  of  the  tree  is  a  matter 
of  care  and  culture. 

But  while  there  is  peace  within  there  is  war  without ;  while  indus- 
trial equity  asserts  itself  within,  industrial  force  plays  with  violence 
all  around.  And  this  very  combination  increases  the  activity  and 
force  of  competition,  to  meet  and  overcome  which,  other  men 
must  combine.  But  in  their  combination  another  move  is  made 
toward  an  equitable  division  of  products  or  spoils,  and  co-oporative 
distribution  makes  another  stride  forward  and  expands  its  growing 
influence  correspondingly  over  individual  operations.  Thus,  step 
by  step,  in  place  after  place,  partnership  after  partnership  of  two  or 
more  industrial  leaders  or  capitalists,  embracing  all  forms  of  pro- 
duction— agricultural,  manufacturing,  commercial  and  financial — 
have  entered  the  industrial  arena  ;  through  combination,  introducing 
everywhere  the  beneficent  principle  of  equity  and  increasing  the  number 
of  industrial  units  committed  to  its  establishment ;  while  it  decreases 
the  number  of  competitive  units,  it  increases  the  force  of  competitive 
energy. 

But  the  partnership  has  not  afforded  sufficient  instrumentality  nor 
ample  field  for  the  promotion  of  private  interests,  or  for  the  evolution 
of  co-operative  combination ;  for  the  introduction  of  co-operative 
equity  and  the  establishment  of  co-operative  distribution. 

To  meet  the  requirements,  private  corporations  were  schemed  and 
introduced.  Corporations  not  only  admit  the  combinations  of  a  larger 
number  of  individuals  in  a  single  enterprise,  but  the  theory  of  their 
existence  and  administration  of  industrial  affairs  places  distribution 


I02  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

on  a  more  exact  if  not  more  equitable  basis*.  According  to  the  ex- 
act interest  of  each  share-holder,  measured  by  the  current  measure  of 
value  or  price,  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  effort  expended 
by  one  person  in  promoting  and  establishing  the  enterprise  for  vvhich 
the  corporation  was  endowed  with  existence,  does  that  person  draw 
from  the  net  results  of  production.  That  many  corporations  have 
become,  through  the  management  of  their  trustees,  sink-holes  of  in- 
dustrial corruption  and  dishonesty,  is.  true.  On  the  contrary,  those 
which  have  been  managed  according  to  the  intent  of  the  theory  and 
the  purpose  of  the  organizing  law,  have  illustrated  and  verified  the 
truth  that  they  contribute  to  the  growth  and  extension  of  co  operative 
distribution.  Even  those  corporations  which  have  fleeced  the 
major  portion  of  their  smaller  stockholders,  embody  a  managing  ring, 
the  individuals  of  which  must  and  do  observe  a  just  and  equitable  dis- 
tribution of  their  joint  plunderings  between  themselves.  These 
corporations  following  the  lead  of  copartnerships  and  stimulated 
into  existence  by  the  necessity  of  larger  and  more  compact  combina- 
tions to  meet  the  strengthening  competition  of  strong  partnerships, 
have  entered  the  industrial  arena,  absorbed  all  forms  of  production 
and  proximately  displaced  the  individual  and  the  partnership. 

Following  the  natural  law  which  involves  the  survival  of  the'  fittest' 
and  the  preponderance  of  might  rather  than  sympathy  and  right,  the 
large  have  swallowed  and  absorbed  the  small.     And  yet;  while  this 
process  has  been  advancing,  so  also  has  the  principle  of  co-operative 
distribution  been  carried  to  a  broader  arena  and  higher  tide. 

But  combination  does  not  rest  at  this  point.  As  regards  most 
forms  of  industry,  either  one  corporation  has  absorbed  individuals, 
partnerships  and  smaller  corporations  engaged  in  a  given  industry, 
or  a  number  of  the  larger  corporations  have  organized  themselves 
into  a  gigantic  ring  or  pool,  embracing  a  large  territory  or  the  entire 
domain  of  the  nation.  To  this  advanced  movement  of  combination 
also,  they  have  been  stimulated  by  the  force  and  fierceness  of  the 
competition  which  the  industrial  struggle  of  composite  corporations 
strengthened.  Each  corporation  has  brought  to  bear  upon  its  rivals,  to 
the  fullest  extent,  the  appliances  of  industrial  force,  and  received  return 
attacks  with  its  defensive  ability,  until  each  and  all  were  glad  to 
enter  combinations  which  favored  recognition  of  their  claimed  in- 
dustrial rights,  and  gave  warrant  through  compromise,  of  an  equit- 
able distribution  of  productive  results. 

Through  these  movements,  co-operative  distribution — voluntary 
co-operation  practically  established  according"  to  existing  equities 
— gains  ground.     Harmony    is    the  only  soil  in  which  it  can  grow. 

n'he  reader  will  understand  that  the  practices  of  corporate  managers  has,  in  some 
instances,  nearly  inverted  the  fundamental  theory  of  their  structures.  Men  are 
usually  forced  (at  first)  to  deal  justly,  so  long  have  they  freely  excused  industrial 
violence.    Trustees  of  corporations  are  no  exception. 


EFFECTS    OF    LABOR    ORGANIZATION    ON    DISTRIBUTION.  1 83 

Within  all  voluntary  established  combinations,  industrial  harmony 
or  co-operation  can  exist;  without  them,  industrial  war  or  competi- 
tion must  continue. 

As  regards  the  evolution  of  co-operative  distribution,  to  this  point, 
we  have  considered  but  one  of  the  several  human  industrial  factors, 
viz.:  the  industrial  leader  or  capitalistic  class"*. 

It  will  not  be  supposed  however,  that  the  equity  which  they  deal 
out  to  themselves  by  common  consent  they  deal  out  to  the  other  in- 
dustrial factors.  On  the  contrary,  they  apply  industrial  force  without 
reluctance  or  scruple ;  in  one  direction  to  employed  laborers  and  to 
patrons  or  consumers  in  another.  The  equity  which  they  concede 
one  to  another,  they  concede  because  their  subjective  greed  impels 
them  to  take  all  they  can  get ;  and  how  much  they  can  get  is  limited 
by  the  struggles  going  on  about  them  ;  in  other  words,  they  deal  out 
equity  one  to  another  because  in  their  judgment  they  can  secure 
more  of  the  results  of  production  thereby,  than  through  the  contin- 
uance of  an  all-around,  rough  and  tumble  competition.  • 

But  what,  under  the  impulse  of  self-interest,  subjective  and  ob- 
jective, is  the  other  grand  division  of  the  productive  force  accom- 
plishing towards  the  introduction  and  establishment  of  co-operative 
distribution  ?  What  are  laborers  achieving  for  themselves  and  how 
are  they  affecting  the  general  result  ? 

Organization  and  combination  of  the  leaders  of  industry — capital- 
ists— has  been  progressing  for  two  or  three  centuries  ;  organization 
of  laborers  has  assumed  important  proportions  only  within  the  half 
century  past.  Organization  of  the  former,  intent  alone  on  advancing 
self-interest,  has  driven  loborers  to  organize  and  combine  in  self- 
defense.  Most  universally  beginning  life,  devoid  of  their  propor- 
tionate and  natural  interest  in  the  means  of  self-employment,  they 
enter  their  manhood  career  dependent  on  the  selfish  enterprise  and 
{activity  of  those  who  hold  the  sources  of  wealth  and  appliances  of 
production.  Ground  between  the  upper  and  active  millstone  of 
industrial  leaders  and  the  lower  millstone  of  patronizing  consumers, 
the  one  demanding  high  prices,  the  other  low,  their  lot  has  been  one 
calculated  to  arouse  the  energy  of  despair. 

Considering  the  usual  meagerness  of  opportunity  and  absence  of 
industrial  facilities,  their  struggle  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the 
thraldom  of  proletarianism  and  secure  a  footing  on  the  soil,  and  ac- 
cess to  the  sources  of  wealth,  has  been  prolonged,  brave  and  noble. 
As  capitalists  have  achieved  their  power  over  the  industrial  world 
through  combined  action,  laborers  are  compelled  to  assert  themselves 
through  the  same  appliance. 

*The  personnel  of  industrial  economy  is  included  in  two  classes,  viz.:  producers 
and  consumers.  Producers  are  divided  into  capitalists  or  industrial  leaders  and 
laborers,  or  industrial  rank  and  file.  Consumers,  with  reference  to  any  one  or  all 
cr-mmodities,  embrace  the  entire  population. 


184  WFALIH    AND    FOVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

Distribution,  owing  to  the  fact  that  commodities,  at  the  point  of 
ccmpletion,  are  legally  owned  by  employers,  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
be  within  the  function  assigned  to  the  operations  of  laborers.  Never- 
theless distribution — equitable  distiibution  of  commodities  produced 
by  the  joint  effort  of  creative  and  human  labor,  to  enforce  the  right 
to  sit  in  council  with  all  co-laborers  and  assist  in  determining  the 
portion  of  wealth  which  each  productive  unit  should  possess  and  en- 
joy ;  to  extend  co-operative  distribution  to  both  divisions  of  the  pro- 
ductive force  and  to  the  entire  result  of  productive  effort — is  the  ob- 
je:tive  ppint  and  end  of  all  organizations  originated  and  maintained 
by  laborers. 

Their  proposal  is  to  extend  an  equitable  distribution  to  all  pro- 
ducers and  not  permit  the  major  portion  of  national  wealth  to  be 
distributed  equitably  only  between  a  small  number  of  capitalists.  To 
these  colossal  combinations  laborers  have  been  driven  and  are  yet  to 
be  driven  by  a  necessary  self-consideration  and  the  fierce  gr^ed  of  in- 
dustrial leaders  on  one  hand  and  consumers  on  the  other.  Through 
these  combinations,  national  and  international,  thus  incited  to  being, 
is  co-operative  distribution  carried  forward  to  more  nice  and  precise 
phases  of  equitable  efficiency  ;  division  of  the  common  heritage  and 
compensation  to  man — and  not  to  the  inanimate  things,  capital  and 
land — being  the  keynote  of  their  demands. 

It  is  especially  to  the  lasting  credit  of  these  organizations  ttiat 
they  have  awakened  a  momentum  which  promises  ultimately  to  elim- 
inate the  vicious  elements  of  rent,  profit  and  interest  from  all  dis- 
tributive apportionments,  and  place,  in  conjunction  with  an  equitable 
division  of  the  common  heritage,  human  labor,  measured  by  time  or 
result,"  as  the  ultimate  standard  of  distribution ;  that  in  this  momen- 
tum they  practically  recognized  a  principle  of  human  equality 
which  issues  from  that  deeper  and  more  significant  principle  involved 
in  the  "  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man";  that  they 
bid  fair  to  establish  among  the  nations  of  earth  that  industrial 
democracy — the  democracy  of  wealth— the  nonexistence  of  which 
renders  all  other  phases  of  democracy — religious,  social,  political 
and  civil — the  masquerading  paraphernalia  of  a  real,  vicious  and  ig- 
noble aristocrrcy.  But  to  these  movements,  also,  laborers  are  driven 
primarily  and  most  powerfully  by  the  baser  force — self-aggrandize> 
ment. 

In  this  relation,  the  influence  of  consumers  is  of  importance  only 
when  the  consum.ers  and  the  producers  of  given  commodities  con- 
stitute a  distinct  aggregation  of  the  community.  When  the  person- 
ality of  consumers  differ  from  the  personality  of  producers,  consumers 
are  intensely  interested  in  low  prices.  All  producers  are  consumers 
of  some,  if  not  all  of  the  commodities.  As  the  influence  of  uncom- 
bined  competition,  so  long  known  as  the  regulator  of  prices,  is  fast 


INFLUENCE    OF    CONSUMERS    ON    DISTRIBUTION.  1 85 

disappearing  from  the  industrial  arena,  the  interested  influence  of 
combined  consumers,  operating  through  the  instrument  of  organized 
society — government — is  as  rapidly  assuming  its  ])lace  and  exercising 
its  power.  If  the  water  company,  having  a  monopoly  of  supply,  main- 
tains prices  at  an  exacting  altitude,  consumers,  through  political  and 
civil  action,  swoop  down  upon  the  company  and  demands  lower  prices. 
If  the  elevator  companies  of  Wisconsin  combine  to  fleece  ihe  farmers 
on  handling  and  storing  wheat,  consumers,  constituting  the  entire 
community,  appeal  to  the  law  for  redress  and  are  sustained  in  their 
appeal  by  legislatures  and  courts  of  highest  jurisdiction. 

If  the  transportation  companies  holding  the  highways  of  the 
country,  engage  in  wholesale  robbery,  consumers  combine  in  state 
and  nation,  and  pass  and  execute  laws  which  tend  to  bring  freights 
and  fares  to  the  baris  of  a  fair  and  even-handed  compensation.  If 
foiled,  they  persevere,  and  even  though  it  becomes  necessary  that 
private  enterprise  be  displaced,  '^ill  ultimately  succeed. 

Organization  of  the  industrial  sections,  under  industrial  leadership, 
detachments  or  principalities  of  the  various  industries,  is  in  the 
midst  of  a  rapid  and  expansive  movement.  Organization  of  laborers 
connected  with  the  various  industries  is  following  the  processes  cf  a 
rapid  development  and  has  assumed  extensive  and  powerful  propor- 
tions. Organization  of  consumers  who  constitute  the  bulk  of  the 
people,  through  occasional  and  under  pressure  of,  industrial  abuses 
perpetrated  by  private  enterprise  and  industrial  leadership,  has  as- 
sumed, through  political  action,  national  proportions,  and  exists  by 
an  intuitive  national  consent.  These  three  active  factors  of  economic 
life  are  moving  forward  to  the  assumption  of  national  proportions, 
each  intent  on  securing  the  establishment  of  self-interest;  each  through 
respective  combinations  committed  to  an  equitable  distribution  of 
industrial  results,  to  the  section  and  units  of  its  own  composition, 
and  each  fiercely,  blindly  at  times,  opposed  to,  but'  unwittingly  con- 
cerned in  the  evolution  and  establishment  of  permanent  national  co- 
operative distribution. 

The  selfish  force  stands  out  therefore,  as  the  paramount  force, 
which,  directed  by  an  invisible  Intelligence,  is  carrying  industrial 
affairs  irresistibly  to  a  better,  higher  and  more  just  plane  of  principle 
and  of  life.  The  conflicts  which  it  engenders  and  stimulates  grow 
more  virulent,  stupendous  and  destructive  as  combination  pro- 
gresses; and  the  more  fiercely  competition  rages  and  the  wider  range 
it  covers,  the  more  apparent  becomes  its  senseless  inutility  ;  and 
more  necessary  to  the  physical  well-being  of  mankind  becomes  a 
distribution  of  the  world's  wealth  through  a  concurrent  co-operative 
consent  and  the  use  of  a  measure  of  distribution  based  upon  the 
rights  and  efforts  of  each  individual.  A  general  and  concurrent  co- 
operative consent  is  best  and  more  surely  reached  through  public  en- 


1 86  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

terprise  conducted  by  a  representative  or  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment ;  a  government  wherein  the  consent  of  the  government  is  the 
basis  of  the  civil  fabric. 

If  a  man  produces  for  himself  alone,  no  occasion  arises  why  he 
should  quarrel  with  himself  regarding  distribution.  He  must  have 
and  give  ample  nutrition  and  protectian  to  every  tissue,  structure 
and  function  of  his  system  and  there  the  matter  terminates. 

If  a  given  community  produces,  as  aco?nmu?iity^^\\2X  it  consume?, 
and  consumes  what  it  pioduces,  no  cause  arises  for  contention  as  to 
the  distribution  ;  each  portion  and  unit  of  the  community  will  receive 
by  virtue  of  his  atomic  relation  to  the  whole,  his  portion  of  the  com- 
mon commodity. 

If  a  State  or  nation  as  a  State  or  nation^  undertakes  to  conduct 
one  or  many  forms  of  industry  for  the  benefit  of  its  consumers,  each 
citizen  under  similar  and  equal  conditions  with  all  other  citizens, 
receives  his  quota  of  the  common  or  natural  product.  Whatever  the 
product  be,  protection  of  life  and  property  from  domestic  or  foreign 
interference,  postage,  exchange,  transportation  or  educational  facilities, 
it  is  the  concurrent  consent  that  what  is  produced  through  the  co-op- 
erative principle,  shall  be  distributed  through  operation  of  the  same 
principle.  No  contention  or  competition  arises  to  exclude  one  cit- 
izen from  the  uses  which  others  enjoy  on  similar  terms.  A  common 
concurrent  consent  prevails  and  each  citizen  is  concerned  only  to 
secure  means  for  compliance  with  the  conditions  which  are  open 
alike  to  all. 

On  the  contrary,  it  is ,  the  continued  end  of  private  enterprise  to 
c6rner  and  exclude,  exact  and  plunder  so  many  as,  and  to  the  ex- 
tremest  extent,  possible,  and  to  distribute  to  the  few,  much,  and  to 
the  many,  little.  Industry,  to  be. organized,  must  have  its  leadership, 
its  followers  and  assistants,  and  its  mass  of  dependent  consumers. 
Private  enterprise  secures  leadership  from  the  individual,  its  fol- 
lowing and  support  from  the  mass  of  employes,  and  its  consumers 
from  the  entire  population  of  the  nation. 

Public  enterprise  finds  leadership  in  organized  society,  through 
the  functions  of  government,  its  support  and  following  from  officers 
and  employes  of  government  an(?  its  consumers  from  the  nation 
en  masse.  The  former  labors  directly  for  selfish  interests,  and  indi- 
rectly for  the  satisfaction  of  others.  The  latter  performs  its  services 
directly  to  increase  both  private  and  public  welfare. 

It  IS  the  tendency  of  the  lower  and  selfish  forces,  working  through 
the  industrial  economies,  to  drive  industrial  operations  out  and  from 
under  control  of  private  enterprise  with  its  individual  leadership,  its 
narrow  ends  and  its  competitive  and  iniquitous  distribution,  to  pub- 
lic enterprise  with  its  national  leadership,  its  broad  purposes,  hu- 
mane considerations  and  its  co-operative  and  equitable  distribution. 


COMBINATIONS    OF    CAPITALISTS.  1 87 

How  far  and  to  what  extent  the  leaders  of  private  enterprise — 
in  their  own  interests — have  already  advanced  toward  that  general 
and  massive  combination  which  organized  industry  seems  to  be  ap- 
proaching, is  to  be  determined  by  the  facts. 

For  a  half  century  or  more,  industrial  leaders,  prompted  princi- 
pally by  individual  interests,  thereby  best  subserved,  have  promoted 
organization  into  combinations  of  less  or  greater  extent  and  power. 
The  facts  here  narrated,  are  gathered*  from  the  report  of  proceed- 
ings of  the  conventions  of  innumerable  manufacturers,  dealers  and 
producers.  These  combinations  of  industrial  leaders  were  made  to 
avoid  competition  between  themselves  and  by  depressing  wages  and 
prices  of  raw  material,  and  raising  prices  of  commodity  to  consumers, 
enable  them  to  reap  a  richer  reward  than  could  be  other  wise,  reaped. 

We  will  consider  some  of  them  to  the  stature  of  their  growth  in 
1884,  and  leave  the  intelligent  reader  to  follow  their  further  aggrega- 
tions, through  public  reports  of  their  subsequent  operations.  As 
they  have  risen  through  no  uniform  succession,  we  will  observe  no 
method  in  presenting  them. 

Two  years  ago  it  was  found  there  was  too  much  milk  in  New 
York  and  Boston.  The  farmers  of  Orange  county,  who  supply  New 
York  with  two-thirds  of  its  milk,  declared  a  milk  war.  After  a  des- 
perate and  unscrupulous  struggle  against  the  New  York  dealers, 
against  those  -farmers  reluctant  to  join  the  combination,  against  the 
Lehigh  and  Hudson  railroad,  against  sheriffs  and  dej)Uty-sheriffs  who 
were  deputed  to  protect  individual  shippers — the  streets  of  Warwick 
having  been  barricaded  by  ropes,  and  men  with  guns,  pistols  and 
clubs  protecting  those  collecting  milk — peace  was  declared  March 
24,  1883. 

A  committee  of  the  farmers  and  a  committee  of  milkmen  repre- 
senting eight  hundred  dealers  in  New  York,  Brooklyn  and  Jersey 
City,  agreed  upon  a  fixed  price  for  each  month  until  April,  1884, 
ranging  from  two  and  one-half  to  four  cents  a  quart,  according  to 
the  time  of  the  year.  The  organization  spread  until  it  covered  Del- 
aware, Orange  and  Sullivan  counties  in  New  York,  and  Hunterdon 
and  Sussex  counties  in  New  Jersey. 

March  22,  1884,  the  farmers'  cnmmittee  and  that  of  the  milk 
dealers'  organization,  known  as  the  "  Pump-handle  Association," 
met  again  and  agreed  on  prices  for  another  twelve  months.  The 
trade  in  miljc  at  the  point  of  largest  consumption  in  the  United 
States,  now  rests  in  the  hands  of  these  same  combinations.  The 
same  process  is  going  on  at  other  places.  The  New  England  Milk 
Producer's  Association  met  in  Boston  for  the  purpose  of  thoroughly 
organizing  the  milk  farmers.    Representatives  from  New  York  who 


*I  am  indebted  to  Henry  D.  Uoyd— North  American  Review— tor  most  of  the  facts 
here  presented,  partly  in  his  language. 


lS8  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

had  led  the  movement  there,  were  present  to  point  out  the  way.  One 
gentleman  sent  a  check  for  one  hundred  dollars  to  pay  for  milk  to 
pour  on  the  ground,  to  help  the  success  of  the  producer's  cause. 
The  membership  was  increased  from  86  to  291.  All  farmers  were 
called  on  to  join  the  association  and  do  all  in  their  power  to  solve 
the  "milk  problem."  On  March  22,  1884,  the  day  of  a  similar  meet- 
ing in  New  York,  the  association  met  again  in  Boston,  conferred 
with  the  representatives  of  the  milk  dealers,  fixed  the  price  of  milk 
from  April  to  October  and  adjourned. 

The  principle  of  competition  was  abandoned  as  detrimental  to 
the  interests  of  competitors  ;  and  while  in  this  instance  the  wages  of 
employes  does  not  figure,  consumers  were  deprived  the  coveted 
benefits  of  competitive  prices. 

Cattle  kings  have  combinations  to  defend  themselves  from  cattle 
thieves,  state  legislatures  and  other  enemies  to  their  interests,  and 
propose  to  extend  the  list  to  include  middlemen  at  the  stock  yards  ; 
the  latter  having  formed  combinations  to  deprive  beef  producers  the 
advantage  of  competitive  purchasers.  The  Stock-growers  Association 
of  Wyoming  have  $100,000,000  in  cattle.  It  was  unanimously 
decided  that  its  business  had  been  seriously  injured  by  the  pooling 
arrangements  prevailing  among  buyers  at  the  Chicago  stock  yards, 
and  the  executive  committee  was  invited  to  obtain  the  fullest  possible 
information  as  to  the  means  by  which  cattle  might  be  shipped  directly 
to  the  European  customer. 

Other  combinations  more  or  less  success^'ul  have  been  made  by 
ice  men  and  fish  dealers  of  New  York,  Boston,  San  Francisco  and 
other  large  cities.  The  millers  of  the  western  states  have  taken  steps 
to  combine. 

Sugar  has  become  the  centre  of  two  vast  combinations,  one  con- 
troling  prices  and  dictating  wages  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  the 
other  having  subjected  employes  and  consumers  from  the  Rockies 
to  the  Pacific.  It  requires  but  another  step,  viz.,  the  combination  of 
these  two  immense  pools,  to  nationalize  the  sui^ar  industry  and  place 
consumers  fully  within  their  power.  In  these  combinations  neither 
employes  nor  consumers  are  concerned,  both  being  objects  of  plun- 
der by  industrial  leaders  ;  the  former  through  low  wages,  the  latter 
by  high  prices. 

In  the  matter  of  stoves,  matches  and  fuel,  operators  have  not  failed 
to  drop  the  principle  of  competition,  and  in  their  own  interests,  lay 
the  groundwork  among  themselves,  of  co-operative  distribution. 
Since  1872,  there  has  been  a  national  combination  of  the  manufac- 
turers of  stoves,  and  its  effect,  said  the  founder,  in  his  speech  at  the 
annual  banquet  in  Cleveland  last  February  (1884),  had  been  to 
carry  the  balance  from  the  wrong  to  the  right  side  of  the  ledger. 

The  combination  of  match  manufacturers  was  perfected  by  the  ex- 


COMBINATIONS    OF    CAPITALISTS  1 89 

perience  of  sixteen  years  of  fusion.  It  is  now  at  war  with  the  new 
companies  which  have  gone  into  the  manufacture  since  the  repeal  of 
the  internal  revenue  tax.  It  is  attempting  to  conquer  these  by  un- 
derselling them  ;  tactics  which  have  hitherto  rarely  failed.  The 
government  of  the  United  States,  before  whom  all  men  are  equal*, 
helped  this  combination  to  kill  off  its  competitors,  shielding  it  from 
foreign  competition  by  a  tax  of  thirt)'-five  per  cent,  on  the  importa- 
tion of  matches  from  abroad,  and  shielding  it  from  domestic  compe- 
tition by  administering  the  internal  revenue  tax  so  as  to  make  its 
small  competitors  pay  ten  per  cent,  more  tax.  This  drove  them 
into  bankruptcy,  or  combination  with  the  ring  at  the  rate  of  one  or 
two  per  month.  The  railroads,  like  tne  government,  helped  to  trans- 
fer this  business  from  the  many  to  the  few  by  carrying  the  combina- 
tion's matches  at  lower  rates  than  were  given  to  its  little  competitors. 

Among  the  greatest  combinations  of  the  age  are  those  connected 
with  the  production  and  extraction  of  fuel  and  light  ;  coke,  coal  and 
kerosene.  The  operations  of  capitalists  in  connection  therewith, 
and  the  connivance  of  the  government  in  their  cruel  manipulations, 
viewed  from  a  humanitarian  standpoint,  is  astounding  and  disgrace- 
ful to  the  verge  of  criminality. 

Combination  which  controls  the  amount  and  price  of  coal  con- 
sumed in  the  United  States,  operates  substantially  from  Pennsylvania 
as  a  centre.  The  total  amount  of  anthracite  coal  land  is  estimated 
at  270,000  acres.  This  is  held  principally  by  six  companies,  viz.: 
the  Reading  Coal  and  Iron  Co.,  110,000;  Lehigh  Valley  Co.,  25,- 
000  ;  Delaware,  Lackawana  and  Western  Co.,  20,000  ;  I>elaware 
and  Hudson  Co.,  20,000;  Pennsylvania  Coal  Co.,  10,000  and  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Co.,  1 0,000.  The  other  75,000  acres  are 
held  by  individuals,  firms  and  corjiorations,  which  are  necessarily 
tributary  to  the  railroad  lines  of  the  companies  above  named,  involving 
the  dependent  conditions  which  that  implies.  The  capitalization  of 
these  companies  with  that  of  their  satellites,  is  upward  of  $500,000,- 
000  The  price  of  coal  along  a  large  portion  of  the  Atlantic  coast 
and  interior  so  far  as  Buffalo  and  Pittsburg,  is  regulated  directly  by 
these  companies.  Prices  of  coal  west  of  Buffalo  and  Pittsburg,  and 
in  Canada,  are  ostensibly  regulated  by  the  Western  Anthracite  Coal 
Association,  but  really  by  the  large  railroad  and  mine  owners  of 
Pennsylvania.  Our  annual  consumption  of  anthracite  is  about  32,- 
000,000  tons,  of  which  the  West  takes  about  6,000,000  tons.  The 
companies  which  comprise  the  combination  and  are  under  its  con- 
trol, mine,  sell 'and  transport  their  own  coal.  They  are  gradually  ob- 
literating other  mine  owners  by  absorbing  their  holdings.     Dealers 


♦This  is  a  single  instance  of  the  inconsistent  legislation  which  the  conflicting  in- 
terests of  private  enterprise  engenders. 


190  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

are  sinking  into  mere  agents  of  the  combination,  with  as  little  free- 
dom as  the  employee  and  the  consumer. 

The  combination  limits  the  supply  and  thereby  creates  a  demand 
that  will  pay  any  price  they  choose  to  make.  Its  entire  object  is  to 
force  consumers  to  pay  high  prices ;  but  it  can  be  maintained  only 
by  making  an  equitable  distribution  of  the  results  to  those  compris- 
ing the  combination;  by  inaugurating  unconsciously,  among  employ- 
ers, that  co-operative  distribution  which  is  destined  to  become 
general. 

In  those  districts  where  soft  coal  must  go  to  a  competitive  market, 
combinations  are  at  work  to  inaugurate — they  do  not  know  it — 
co-operative  distribution.  A  pool  has  just  been  formed  (1884)  cov- 
ering the  annual  product  of  6,000,000  tons  of  the  mines  of  Ohio. 
Indiana  and  Illinois  are  to  be  brought  in,  and  it  is  proposed  to  extend 
the  combination  to  all  the  bituminous  coal  districts  that  compete  with 
each  other. 

Powerful  syndicates  are  at  work  to  control  the  coke  interests  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  was  stated  March  23,  1884,  that  the  efforts  of  a 
year  or  more  to  consolidate  the  large  and  small  coke  makers  had 
succeeded.  Nearly  8,000  ovens  joined  the  pool  which  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  the  four  largest  firms  ;  the  smaller  men  agree- 
ing to  shut  their  ovens  whenever  the  heads  of  the  pool  ordered.  It 
was  soon  announced  from  headquarters  that  one  oven  out  of  every 
seven  had  been  closed  until  further  orders,  that  the  price  of 
coke  had  been  advanced  from  ninety-five  cents  to  one  dollar  and  fifteen 
cents  per  ton,  and  that  further  advances  would  be  made  until  the 
price  reached  one  dollar  and  a  half. 

In  March  1883,  a  combination  was  made  of  all  the  large  pro- 
duction of  coke  iron  furnaces — with  one  exception — in  Tennessee, 
Alabama  and  Georgia  to  fix  uniform  prices  and  prevent  indiscrim- 
inate competition. 

Of  course,  the  small  companies  and  smaller  operators,  whose  active 
competition  tended  to  keep  prices  at  a  reasonable  figure,  will  be 
f  jrced  to  enter  the  pool ;  then  will  eome  the  period  of  low  wages  to 
employes  and  high  prices  to  consumers  ;  then  the  combination  of  em- 
ployes to  oppose  low  wages,  then  the  combination  of  consumers  to 
oppose  high  prices,  and  ultimately  the  combination  of  employers, 
employes  and  consumers  in  one  grand  pool,  where  co-operative  dis- 
tribution may  work  beneficence  to  each  and  all  concerned. 

Until  then,  until  industrial  evolution  shall  have  brought  indus- 
trial affairs  to  this  ideal  desideratum^  the  matches  of  combined  match 
employers  will  light  the  coal  of  combined  coal  employers  in  the 
stoves  of  combined  stove  employers,  and  employes  and  consumers 
barred  from  use  of  the  sources  of  these  commodities  and  the  appli- 


COMBINATIONS    OF    CAPITALISTS.  I9I 

ances  through  which  they  are  produced,  will  make  the  best'  terms 
possible  with  the  industrial  lords  of  the  nation. 

The  progressive  aggregation  of  individuals,  firms  and  corporations, 
which  have  finally  resulted  in  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  are  mat- 
ters of  industrial  history  accessible  to  every  one.  If  one  industry 
more  than  another  has  approximated  the  point  of  nationalization,  the 
palm  of  development  belongs  to  this  monopoly.  Few,  if  any,  or- 
ganizations engaged  in  the  coal  oil  business,  make  any  pretention  to 
oppose  the  expressed  demands  of  the  Standard  Oil  Comyany.  It 
dictates  the  price  of  oil  lands,  of  raw  material  taken  out  by  a  few 
isolated  firms  or  companies,  of  wages  paid  to  laborers,  and  of  prices 
paid  by  consumers.  In  its  own  field  of  operations  it  is  a  veritable 
industrial  autocrat. 

A  peer  of  this  gigantic  monopoly,  as  regards  the  extent  and  thor> 
oughness  of  its  organization,  is  that  which  embodies  the  rubber  in- 
dustry of  America.  A  recent  account  of  its  operations*  states  that 
the  scheme  embraces  "  the  plan  of  doing  away  with  the  business  of 
two  hundred  importers,  and  concentrates  the  buying  power  in  the 
hands  of  one  brokerage  house.  It  also  fixes  the  price  of  In<Jia  rub- 
ber and  likewise  the  returns  to  the  rubber  cutter  and  revenue  to  the 
owner  of  rubber  lands.  It  compels  the  jobber  to  pay  the  combina- 
tion what  its  managers  consider  a  fair  return,  but  does  not  altogether 
shut  him  out  from  the  trade;  leaving  him  free  to  retrench  himself 
from  the  retailer  and  the  latter  from  the  "  dear  public  "  and  thousands 
of  wage  earners.  "  At  a  meeting  of  representatives  to-day,  the  trust 
was  formed  like  the  celebrated  cotton  oil  trust,  by  the  absolute 
surrender  of  every  mill  in  the  country  to  the  control  of  the  })ool 
trustees.  A  large  capital  was  subscribed,  Messrs.  Benaigan,  Alden 
and  Meyer  were  chosen  directors.  They  are  to  be  the  autocrats  of 
the  pool  at  a  combined  salary  of  $40,000  per  annum.  The  industry 
to-day  represents  an  investment  of  nearly  $50,000,000,  and  an  an- 
nual trade  nearly  twice  that  amount." 

On  the  3d  of  April  1884,  the  largest  and  most  influential  meeting 
of  cotton  manufacturers  ever  held  in  the  South,  came  together  at 
Augusta,  Georgia,  to  take  measures  to  cure  the  devastating  plague  of 
too  much  cotton  cloth.  -A  plan  was  unanimously  adopted  for  the 
organization  of  a  Southern  Manufacturer's  Association. 

Four  years  ago  (1880)  the  Chicago  Lumbermen's  Exchange 
adopted  a  resolution  declaring  it  to  be  dishonorable  for  any  dealer 
to  make  lower  prices  than  those  published  by  it  for  control  of  one  of 
the  greatest  lumber  markets  of  the  world.  Monthly  reports  are  re- 
quired from  dealers  by  this  exchange  and  price  lists  are  made  honest 
by  monthly  banquets. 


New  York  Times,  June  2,  1887. 


192  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

A  delegation  of  dealers  from  the  Mississippi  river  district,  expressed 
their  willingness  that  Chicago  should  make  prices  for  them.  A 
secret  meeting  of  lumbermen  from  all  parts  of  the  West  was  held  in 
Chicago  March  8,  1883,  to  discuss  means  for  advancing  prices,  re- 
stricting production  at  least  thirty-five  per  cent.,  and,  in  the  language 
of  one  of  them,  putting  themselves  in  a  position  to  dictate  prices  for 
the  entire  country.  In  May,  1883,  the  National  Association  of  lum- 
ber-dealers met  in  Chicago.  It  represented  over  five  hundred  and 
fifty  retail  dealers  in  the  West,  and  the  principal  purpose  of  its  meet- 
ing was  to  prevent  wholesale  dealers  at  Chicago,  St.  Lou's  and  other 
c'lies  from  retailing  lumber  to  carpenters,  farmers  and  scalpers  living 
a  id  operating  in  the  territory  of  the  retailers.  It  was  provided  that 
any  wholesaler  who  persisted  in  competing  in  this  way  with  local 
dealers,  should,  when  found  guihy,  be  named  to  all  retailers,  and 
punished  by  the  boycott. 

On  the  Pacific  coast,  it  is  alleged  that  there  are  too  many  mills 
and  too  much  lumber.  The  lumber  market  of  the  coast  is  ruled  by 
the  California  Lumber  Exchange,  and  that,  in  turn,  is  controled  by 
a  few  pcfwerful  firms. 

The  American  Wall-paper  Association  has  established  a  wall- 
paper monarchy  in  the  United  States,  and  when  the  cook  takes  the 
paper  from  off"  the  express  package,  the  hardware,  ham,  groceries, 
candy  and  dry-goods  which  have  been  sent  home,  he  handles  an 
article  the  price  of  which  is  fixed  by  the  private  enactments  of  the 
Western  Wrapping-paper  Association — an  organization  which,  since 
1880,  has  been  struggling  to  keep  down  the  deluge  of  too  much 
wrapping-paper,  and  fix  the  prices  of  all  kinds ;  from  the  paper  un- 
der the  carpet  to  that  whicn  is  used  in  roofing.  At  a  recent  reor- 
ganization it  was  placed  on  a  firmer  footing  than  before.  The  mills 
are  now  allowed  to  turn  out  but  one-half  as  much  as  they  are  capa- 
ble of  producing.  Through  this  cutting  process  the  organization  is 
placed  in  a  position  to  "  lay  off  "  employes,  place  wages  at  the  lowest 
possible  point  and  hold  goods  at  the  highest  possible  price.  The 
wood-pulp  and  straw  paper  industries  have  also  been  amalgamated. 
The  American  Paper  Association  aims  to  control  the  production  and 
prices  of  paper  for  newspapers,  books  and  writing. 

The  dealers  in  old  rags  and  old  paper  are  not  satisfied  to  leave 
competition  a  run  of  freedom.  The  trade  met  at  Rochester  in  Jan. 
1883,  formed  two  national  associations  and  solemnly  agreed  upon 
the  prices  to  be  paid  for  mixed  rags  and  for  brown  paper  and  rag 
carpet.  "  No  change  of  price  for  rags  or  paper  "  runs  the  decree  of 
the  old-rag  barons;  "is  to  be  made  without  consulting  every  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  committee."  Thus  is  solved  the  "old  rag"  prob- 
lem of  how  to  cut  down  the  enormous  profits  the  women  of  Amer- 
ica are  making  from  the  contents  of  their  rag-bags. 


CAPITALISTIC    COMBINATIONS    COMBINED.  1 93 

The  members  of  the  Western  Wooden-ware  Association  long  since 
gave  up  the  alleged  advantages  of  competitive  distribution.  It  met 
last  December  (1883)  and  finding  that  pails,  tubs  and  tools  were  in- 
creasing at  a  ratio  too  rapid  to  suit  current  economic  views,  ordered 
its  numbers  to  manufacture  but  one-fifth  of  their  capacity.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1884,  it  gave  them  permission  to  increase  this  to  one-half. 

The  Western  Cracker  Bakers  Association  met  in  Chicago  February 
1884,  to  consider  among  other  things  "the  reprehensible  system  of 
cutting  prices."  They  proposed  at  once  to  decline  competition  and 
before  they  adjourned  their  price-lists  were  perfected. 

The  men  who  make  our  Shrouds  and  Cofifins  have  formed  a  close 
corporation  known  as  the  National  Burial-case  Association,  and  held 
their  national  convention  in  Chicago  last  year.  Lest  mortality 
should  be  discouraged  their  action  to  keep  up  prices  and  keep  down 
the  number  of  coffins  and  the  number  of  employes  was  kept  secret. 

A  pool  of  the  seventeen  Quinine  manufacturers  of  the  world  was 
formed  July,  1883.  It  included  the  manufacturers  of  America, 
Great  Britain  and  the  continent  of  Europe.  A  combination  of  drug- 
gists and  drug  manufacturers  have  mutually  agreed  to  divide  the 
United  States  into  districts,  each  of  which  shall  be  under  a  superin- 
tendent, who  is  to  watch  the  druggists  and  report  all  those  cutting 
prices.     The  latter  are  to  be  boycotted. 

Iron  Manufacturers  and  Dealers  are  forced  into  combinations  to 
avert  the  destructive  influence  of  competition;  to  limit  the  quantity 
of  iron,  the  number  of  employes,  the  quantity  of  wages  paid  and  to 
advance  prices  to  a  point,  short  of  that  which  might  induce  the  in- 
come of  new  iron  enterprises,  or  force  consumers  to  appeal  to  polit- 
ical and  civil  influence  for  protection  from  the  exactions  of  pro- 
ducers. 

Beginning  with  pig  iron,  the  Age  of  Steel  startled  the  country  in 
January,  1884,  by  the  statement  that  a  monster  pool  was  to  be 
formed  of  all  our  pig-iron  manufacturers.  The  country  was  to  be 
divided  into  six  districts,  and  as  many  furnaces  were  to  be  put  out 
of  blast  as  were  hecessary  to  prevent  us  from  having  too  much  iron. 
The  idle  furnaces  were  to  share  the  profits  of  those  that  ran.  In 
June,  1884,  this  scheme  had  not  been  put  into  operation.  It  de- 
monstrated, however,  the  universal  tendency  of  all  industrial  leaders 
to  avoid  the  destructive  results  of  competitive  distribution. 

The  thirty-million-dollar  Steel  Combination,  did  not  keep  the  price 
of  rails  from  declining  from  $166  per  ton  in  1867,  to  $32  per  ton 
in  1884,  but  during  this  decline  it  has  kept  the  price  of  rails  higher 
in  America  than  anywhere  else.  Chairman  Morrison,  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Ways  and  Means,  is  a  witness  to  the  fact  that  the  chimneys 
of  the  Vulcan  Mill,  at  St.  Louis,  stood  smokeless  for  years,  and 
meanwhile  its  owners  received  a  subsidy,  reported  at  $400,000  a 


194  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

year,  from  the  other  mills  of  the  combination  for  not  making  rails. 
The  human  machines  connected  with  the  establishment — self-feeders 
— were  not  paid  for  doing  nothing.  Competition  is  good  enough 
for  them.  The  steel-rail  makers  of  England,  France,  Belgium  and 
Germany  are  negotiating  for  an  international  combination  to  keep  up 
prices.* 

The  Nail  Association;  November,  1884,  ordered  a  suspension  of 
the  nail  mills,  for  five  weeks.  Said  the  nail  men — December,  1882 
— "we  hope  to  control  production,  unanimously,  and  at  the  very 
time  when  nails  are  not  wanted."  April  9th,  1884,  the  nail-makers 
of  the  West  met  again  at  Pittsburgh  and  adopted  the  most  modern 
form  of  pool,  with  managers  having  full  power  to  restrict  production, 
regulate  prices  and  establish  the  rale  of  wages.  Every  mill  is  in  the 
pool.  Nail  buyers  are  not  allowed  to  converse  with  nail  makers. 
All  business  must  be  done  through  the  Board  of  Control. 

Competitive  distribution — the  reader  will  remember  that  produc- 
tion is  everywhere  co-operative — is  too  tough  a  rule  for  the  capitalists 
— industrial  leaders — engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  barbed  wire; 
and  a  pool  under  the  entire  control  of  eleven  directors  has  within  a 
few  weeks  been  formed,  in  which  are  enrolled  all  the  chief  man- 
ufacturers. They  met  in  St.  Louis,  March,  1884,  and  advanced 
prices — and  in  Chicago,  April,  1884 — and  repeated  the  same,  to 
themselves,  agreeable  operation. 

This  combination  cuts  off  competition  at  both  ends.  It  confed- 
erates the  makers  so  that  they  shall  not  sell  in  competition  with  each 
other,  and  it  buys  all  its  raw  material  through  one  purchasing  agent, 
so  that  its  members  do  not  buy  in  competition.  If  it  would  make 
two  steps  more;  viz.,  take  all  the  barbed-wire  workers  and  all  the 
consumers  of  barbed-wire  into  the  pool,  it  would  have  established, 
in  its  own  arena  at  least,  the  groundwork  of  a  complete  system  of 
co-operative  distribution. 

The  production  of  wrought  iron  is  controled  by  the  Empire  Iron 
Company.  One  feature  of  this  pool  is  that  it  proposed  to  put  men 
on  guard  at  each  mill  to  keep  account  of  the  pipe  made  and  shipped, 
and  these  superintendents  are  to  be  moved  around  from  one  mill 
to  another,  at  least  once  every  eight  weeks. 

The  whisky  distiller's  pool  regulates  production,  prices  and  ex- 
ports north  of  the  Ohio  river  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  A  large  number 
of  distillers  are  kept  idle  drawing  pensions  from  the  combination. 

The  publishers  of  school  books  dt)  not  like  competition;  and  they 
are  equally  opposed  to  a  combination  of  the  consumers  under  State 
control,  to  manufacture  their  own  books.  They  virtually  advocate 
co-operation  for  themselves,  but  not  for  the  consumers,  whom  they 

*1  am  yet  drawing  from  the  a:t  clc  of  H,  G,  Llojd,  Norih  American  Review, 
June  1884. 


SPREAD    OF    CO-OPERATIVE    DISTRIBUTION.  1 95 

deem  it  their  right,  as  it  is  the  admitted  right  of  all  other  producers, 
to  fleece  ad  libitum.  Nineteea  of  the  leading  firms  of  the  country 
have  formed  a  combination  by  which  they  are  bound,  under  heavy 
penalty,  to  obey  the  orders  of  an  executive  committee  as  to  prices 
and  other  matters. 

The  competition  of  the  Fire  Insurance  companies  which  broke  out 
in  1875  upon  the  collapse  of  their  pool,  cost  them  in  New  York 
city  about  $17,500,000,  in  seven  years.  In  1882  they  formed  a  new 
combination  which  covered  the  entire  country,  and  which,  in  point 
of  wealth  and  cohesiveness,  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  success- 
ful in  the  country. 

To  these  extents  and  to  the  dates  mentioned,  the  industrialleiders 
— 3apitaUsts — of  the  nation  have  expressed  their  preference  ui 
against  competition  and  have  placed  themselves  wit'i  relation  to  each 
other,  in  a  position  where  they  are  driven  to  observe  among  themselves 
at  least,  an  equitable  distribution  of  the  wealth  which  comes  into  their 
hands.  The  observance  of  the  dictates  of  an  equitable  or  co-opera- 
tive distribution  within  their  own  narrow  arena  is  thus  forced  upon 
them  by  self-interest  alone ;  narrow  arena  in  one  sense  and  broad  in 
another  ;  narrow  in  that  the  be-  efits  of  co-operative  distribution  are 
restricted  to  a  few  capitalists  ;  broad,  in  that,  at  the  fountain  head  of 
industrial  evolution,  it  involves  nearly  all  the  special  industries  of  the 
country. 

The  thoughtful  reader  will  recognize  three  considerations  which 
are  continually  operating  to  introduce  among  capitalists  and  ulti- 
mately every wnere  cooperative  distribution;  considerations  which 
cannot  be  avoided  or  scaped.  First,  the  disposition  to  escape  the 
impoverishing  results  of  strong  competition ;  second,  the  necessity 
to  that  end,  of  introducing  the  principle  of  combination  or  co-opera- 
tion ;  and  third,  the  not-to-be  escaped  necessit)  of  adopting  and  en- 
forcing among  themselves  the  principle  of  equitable  distribution , 
which  should  be  an  inseparable  attendant  of  co-operative  productioi . 

He  will  also  realize  the  fact  that  every  step  is  taken  by  the  in- 
dividuals involved,  in  furtherance  of  self-interest.  The  writer  has 
discussed  with  friends  the  betterments  which  should  and  must  come 
tJ  mankind  in  the  field  of  economies;  has  usually  been  confronted 
with  the  proposition  that  nothing  can  be  accompHshed  until  first  the 
selfish  nature  of  man  has  come  to  be  eliminated.  He  did  not  then 
see  as  clearly  as  he  does  now,  that  the  very  storm  of  self-interest 
which  crowds  and  batters  tempest-tossed  humanity,  is  bearing  it 
into  a  harbor  of  mutual  regard  and  care  ;  and  that  that  excess  of  human 
selfishness  which  disgraces  and  debases  the  human  race,  will  disap- 
pear concurrently  with,  or  subsequently  to,  a  change  of  material  co:  - 
ditions  that  furnish  the  soil  and  atmosphere  for  better  and  nobler 
growths. 


196  WEALTH    AND    POVERIY    OF    NATIONS. 

In  a  soil  and  an  atmosphere  of  perpetual  ccnflict,  military,  po- 
litical or  industrial,  it  is  impossible  for  humanity  to  reah  it  highest 
and  noblest  development. 


COMBINATION    OF    LABORERS    OR    EMPLOYES.  1 97 

COMBINATION     OF     LABORERS    OR    EM- 
PLOYES. 
CHAPTER  VII.,  SECTION  II. 

In  the  previous  section  the  writer  has  endeavored  to  portray,  in 
detail,  the  present  stage  through  which  co-operative  distribution 
among  capitalists,  forced  by  the  destructive  tendencies  of  competi- 
tion, is  progressively  advancing.  He  has  pointed  out  the  silver 
lining  to  the  industrial  cloud  that  hovers  menacingly  over  the  liber- 
ties and  the  economic  prospects  of  humanity. 

But  the  cloud  is  there  ;  and  against  all  outsiders,  against  employes 
and  consumer^,  the  co-operative  capitalistic  rings,  possessing  vantage 
ground  not  possessed  by  laborers  or  consumers — in  that  through 
priority,  heredity  or  purchase,  they  hold  the  natural  sources  of  wealth 
and  the  social  appliances  of  production  under  a  control  which  ex- 
cludes laborers  from  their  independent  use — crush  and  grind  with 
increased  cruelty.  Humanity  or  justice  to  employes  and  consumers 
is  not  part  or  parcel  of  their  policy.  Following  the  law  of  co-oper- 
ation, they  CO  operate  alone  with  those  units  included  within  their 
compact  and  compete  all  the  more  powerfully,  as  they  are  power- 
fully combined,  against  those  excluded  from  its  advantages. 

But  the  inextinguishable  force  of  self-interest  lives  and  sings  in 
manly  breasts,  other  than  those  of  capitalistic  employers  and  in 
wider  fields  springs  into  defensive  activity.  The  co  operations  of 
capitalists  have  necessitated  and  yet  necessitate  corresponding  com- 
binations of  laborers  and  consumers.  While  the  advantage  of  em- 
ployers lies  in  their  superior  intelligence  and  control  of  the  sources  of 
wealth  and  appliances  of  production,  the  advantage  of  employes  and 
consumers  lies  in  their  necessities,  their  overpowering  numbers  and 
the  promptings  of  outraged  justice,  and,  especially,  that  they  have  all 
to  gain  and  but  little  to  lose. 

Combinations  of  capitalists  going  on  for  a  century  or  more  have 
aroused  into  desperate  activity  the  laborers  of  the  nation.  -Organ- 
ization has  been  advancing  for  a  half  century  or  more  and  within 
these  organizations  the  seed  of  an  equitable  distribution  of  the  world's 
wealth  has  sprung  into  a  broad,  deep  and  expanding  life.  Incited 
to  action  by  prolonged  periods  of  soulless  exactions  on  the  pait  of 
employers,  who,  through  law,  hold  exclusively  the  entire  means  of 
employment  from  the  masses  about  them ;  incited  to  action  by  nat- 
ural justice  overbourn  and  outraged,  it  is  not  remarkable  that  com- 


I9S  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

binations  of  employes  should  at  once  adopt,  with  reference'  to  their 
individual  constituents,  proximately  equitable  laws  of  distribution  ; 
that  they  should  distribute  what  of  wages  as  a  whole,  they  receive 
for  what  labor  as  a  whole,  they  could  sell ;  that  they  should  accord 
to  each  man  as  much  compensation  as  to  any  other  man,  according 
to  his  needs  and  according  to  the  time  expended  in  labor.  But.  ir- 
respective of  the  higher  motive  for  the  establishment  of  an  equitable 
distribution,  the  self-interest  of  the  component  units  has  enforced  its 
adoption.  A  better  care  for  one's  self  and  one's  dependents  is  the 
inciting  motive  of  all  industrial  combinations,  and  the  promoting  or- 
ganizers are  compelled  to  establish  and  maintain  the  principle  of 
justice  among  members  or  endanger  the  permanence  of  the  combi- 
nations. 

Thus,  the  self-interest  of  employers,  constituting  the  primary  and 
inciting  force  of  industrial  evolution,  drives  employes  also,  into  im- 
mense combinations ;  and,  as  the  interior  binding  power  of  these 
combinations,  without  which  they  could  not  be  organized  or  main- 
tained, the  principle  of  co-operative  distribution  is  established  and 
vastly  extended. 

It  is  next  in  order  to  know  to  what  extent  the  combination  of  la- 
borers has  advanced.  Laborers  have  combined,  first,  for  social  and 
benevolent  and  educational  pu'poses;  second,  to  secure  from  em- 
ployers ample  w^ages  ;  third,  to  shorten  the  hours  of  labor. 

The  combinations  here  considered,  are  made  to  secure  an  equit- 
able portion  of  the  results  of  production  within  the  present  competi- 
tive wage  system  ;  an  object  which,  if  not  fully,  is  proximately 
attainable.  Combinations  of  laborers  for  the  purpose  of  undertak- 
ing productive  enterprises  on  their  own  account  are  not  here  con- 
sidered. Such  projects  belong  to  another  and  more  advanced  stage 
of  industrial  evolution.  Independent  co-operative  organizations 
embody  the  sporadic  attempts  of  those  concerned,  to  escape  the  cruel 
and  disastrous  influences  of  competition.  They  constitute  the  germs 
of  that  system  of  indusfrial  life  which  is  yet  to  come,  and  toward 
which  the  present  industrial  contention  and  tempest  is  carrying  all 
nations. 

These  combinations  of  laborers  purpose  only  to  soften  the  asper- 
ities and  modify  the  WTongs  imposed  upon  employes  by  employers, 
under  the  prevailing  maxims  and  methods  of  private  enterprise. 

Reference  to  them  will  be  biief  Their  existence  and  activity 
following  and  keeping  relative  pace  with  the  orojanization  of  em- 
ployers, constitutes  a  necessary  part  of  that  evolution  which  is  to 
bring  industrial  affairs  into  perfect  form.  As  the  world  will  yet  ac- 
knowledge itself  vastly  indebted,  for  its  sometime  condition,  to  the 
early  organization  of  capitalists,  so  it  will  yet  recognize  in  these  later 
labor  organizations  an  equally  important  an  indispensable  service. 


DETAILS    OF    LABOR    COMBINATION.  1 99 

The  independent  organization  of  labor  has  followed  the  disappear- 
ance of  chattel  slavery  and  has  everywhere  been  stimulated  ahd  ad- 
vanced by  the  alleged  exactions  of  the  employing  class.  In  the 
Northern  States  of  America  where  chattel  slavery  did  not  exist,  or- 
ganization commenced  early  ;  in  the  Southern  States  the  combination 
of  laborers,  chattel  slavery  having  been  abolished  but  recently,  has 
but  just  begun. 

We  confine  ourselves  to  the  organizations  of  America*.  What  is 
being  done  there  is  being  done  elsewhere.  Tailors  were  the  first 
to  establish  a  trades-union  in  the  year  1806.  Hatters  organized  in 
1 8 19,  and  shipwrights  and  calkers  between  1825  and  1950.  Local 
unions  of  printers  are  traced  back  to  1831. 

Between  1825  and  185 1  was  a  period  of  especial  interest,  wherein 
labor  organization  was  active.  While  its  purpose  was  multiform,  it 
was  incited  by  a  demand  for  higher  wages  and  the  establishment  of 
the  ten-hour  labor  day. 

Ship  carpenters  and  calkers  were  the  first  to  commence  ag- 
itation for  the  ten-hour  work  day  at  New  York,  and  it  spread  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  wherever  ships  were  being  built.  The  ten-hour 
movement  affected  also  other  trades  and  other  localities. 

The  leaders  of  the  movement  saw  the  necessity  of  more  complete 
organization.  Efforts  to  this  end  culminated  in  a  meeting  at  Boston 
January  8,  1834.  A  general  trades  union  of  the  mechanics  of  Bos- 
ton and  vicinity  consisting  of  sixteen  local  unions  was  formed  and  a 
constitution  was  adopted  the  first  Tuesday  in  March  of  that  year. 

This  was  the  first  organization  of  the  kind  and  may  be  regarded 
as  the  parent  trade  assembly,  or  central  trade  and  labor  union.  The 
movement  was  attended  by  strikes  in  New  York  and  other  places.  A 
general  strike  for  ten  hours  was  begun  at  Philadelphia  in  the  latter 
part  of  May,  1835.  Strikes  were  the  battles  of  the  war  for  a  better 
subsistence,  and  were  rendered  all  the  more  violent  and  obstinate  by 
action  of  the  merchants  and  ship-owners  of  Boston  and  other  places, 
who  combined  to  oppose  the  purposes  of  their  employes,  and  break 
down  their  organizations.  They  denied  the  right  of  workingmen  to 
organize,  to  regulate  the  hours  and  price  of  labor,  and  to  coerce  in- 
dividuals of  their  craft  into  united  action.  In  all  these  matters,  the 
merchants,  in  that  section  of  the  country  at  least,  were  overruled  by 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  through  Chief  Justice  Shaw. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  strikes  were  not  successful.  The  battles 
were  drawn,  but  the  labor  forces,  better  organized,  remained  in  the 
field  and  gathered  in  larger  numbers.  In  the  courts  they  were 
usually  successful,  and  in  the  political  field,  joining  hands  with  farm- 
ers and  ether  laborers,  they  gained  important  advantages.     Though 


*To  "The  Labor  Movement,"  by  Geo.  F,  McNeill,  we  are  indebted  for  fact?. 


200  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

often  overthrown  in  their  strikes,  the  battle  for  ten  hours  was  not 
yielded. 

In  1840  President  Van  Buren  proclaimed  that  "all  public  estab- 
lishments will  hereafter  be  regulated,  as  to  working  hours,  by  the  ten- 
hour  system."  Under  various  auspices  and  with  varied  success  the 
contention  was  maintained.  At  length,  about  the  year  1844,  ten 
hours  became  generally  recognized  as  a  work  day  for  the  building 
trades.  Throughout  other  parts  of  the  country  the  ten-hour  system 
was  actively  promoted,  not  only  by  laborers,  but  by  humanitarians. 

But  we  cannot  trace  the  details*  of  organization.  About  the  year 
i860  the  t€n-hour  system,  having  been  largely  adopted,  the  agitation 
for  eight  hours  was  commenced.  Vast  numbers  of  surplus  employes 
had  gathered  in  America  through  immigration  and  importation  of 
laborers,  and  poverty  was  rapidly  increasing.  Machinery,  also,  had 
become  a  new  and  powerful  factor,  operating  toward  the  displace- 
ment of  employes.  Except  a  radicaP  change  in  the  system  of  pro- 
duction, no  means  of  giving  these  pauperized  laborers  employment 
was  discoverable,  except  through  shorter  hours.  Resisrance  to  dimin- 
ished, sometimes  demand  for  higher  wages,  characterized  this 
new  crusade  on  the  part  of  laborers  for  the  eight  hour  day.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  was  firmly  held  by  the  capitalistic  combinations,  that 
wages  must  go  lower,  and  to  that  end,  a  large  surplus  must  be  forced 
to  remain  unemployed  to  take  the  place  of  those  out  on  strike. 

Whatever  the  merits  of  these  respective  arguments,  both  parties 
entered  the  conflict  for  or  against  the  eight  hour  day  with  vigor.  For 
twenty-flve  years  have  the  opposing  forces  been  engaged  \  and  though 
Congress  and  several  of  the  States  have  passed  laws  enforcing  the  de- 
mand of  employes  on  public  works,  employers,  continually  rein- 
forced by  new  and  effective  labor-saving  machinery,  by  importations 
of  contract  labor  from  Europe  and  Asia,  and  by  drafts  on  vast 
bodies  of  voluntary  immigrants,  have  measurably  maintained  their 
position.  On  the  other  hand  some  of  the  trade  unions,  noticeably  those 
connected  with  building,  have  gained  a  well-earned  victory.  In  the 
meantime  the  drift  of  public  sentiment,  especially  the  humanitarian 
portion  of  it,  have  favored  the  movement  of  employes  for  shorter 
hours,  and  at  present,  among  all  classes,  ten  hours  is  regarded  as  a 
work  day  too  long  for  ordinary  conditions.  The  entire  drift  of  pub- 
lic sentiment  is  towards  shorter  hours,  employment  for  all  and  few 
or  no  paupers. 

Trade  unions  have  always  been  impatient  of  socialism  and  com- 
munity movement,  but  have  adhered  to  their  demand  for  shorter 
hours  and  greater  wages,  knowing  that  an  equitable  distribution  of 
wealth  may  be  secured  through  wage  payments.     Around  these  pur- 

♦The  reader  is  referred  to  "  The  Labor  Movement,"  by  McNeiL 


PROGRRSS    OF    LABOR    COMBINATION.  20I 

% 

poses  labor  combinations  have  massed  their  forces,  and  organization 
has  rapidly  advanced;  but  whether  operating  on  the  lines  of  existing 
modes  and  industrial  conditions,  or  striking  out  for  the  independent 
or  co-operative  method,  they  have  been  met  and  opposed  by  the  self- 
interest  of  employers. 

During  and  after  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  prices  advanced  rapidly, 
and  to  secure  a  corresponding  advance  in  wages,  organization  re- 
ceived a  new  impetus. 

After  disbanding  the  national  armies  in  1886,  a  grand  revival 
occurred.  Isolated  unions  and  associations  saw  more  and  more  the 
necessity  of  amalgamation.  From  thirty  to  forty  national  and  inter- 
national trades-unions  and  amalgamated  societies  were  brought  into 
existence,  some  of  these  numbering  tens  of  thousands  of  men.  These 
national  combinations  comprised  some  of  the  following  occupations  : 
Barbers,  hair-dressers,  hostlers,  clerks,  commercial  travelers,  railroad 
employes,  telegraphers,  packers,  sailors,  blacksmiths,  blind,  door  ar.d 
sash  makers,  bookbinders,  boot  and  shoe  makers,  brass  founders, 
boiler  makers,  brush  makers,  cabinet  makers,  carpenters  and  joiners, 
carpet  workers,  cigar  makers,  clock  and  watch  makers,  coopers,  cot- 
ton-mill operatives,  flax  dressers,  gilders,  glass  work  operatives,  gar- 
ment cutters,  gold  and  silversmiths  and  jewelers,  harness  and  saddle 
makers,  hat  and  cap  makers,  iron  and  steel  workers,  leather  curriers, 
dressers,  finishers  and  tanners,  machinists,  marble  and  stone  cutters, 
masons,  miners,  nail  makers,  organ  makers,  painters,  paper  hangers, 
piano-forte  makers,  plasterers,  plumbers,  printers,  pump  makers, 
quarrymen,  carpenters,  calkers  and  riggers,  silk-mill  operatives,  tail- 
ors, trunk  makers,  upholsters  and  woolen-mill  operatives. 

For  years  they  had  met  the  ordinary  vicessitudes  of  a  long  and 
obstinate  war  ;  failure  and  success,  defeat  and  victory;  but  on  the 
whole,  in  the  teeth  of  fearful  odds,  their  opponents  entrenched  in 
commanding  positions — in  the  soil,  raw  materials,  machinery,  money, 
intelligence  and  organization — they  had  made  steady  advances.  Vic- 
tory renewed  their  hopes  ;  defeat  prompted  to  more  thorough  and 
effective  combinations.  They  had  little  to  lose  and  much  to  gain, 
and  through  seasons  of  sunshine  and  darker  periods  of  shadow, 
organization  and  effort  advanced,  and  as  they  advanced,  wisdom  in- 
creased, and  the  prospects  of  industrial  freedom  grew  brighter. 

It  was  found,  at  last  and  by  many,  that  an  open  struggle  placed 
them  at  a  disadvantage,  which  rendered  violent  and  destructive 
strikes  the  more  imperative.  Their  purposes,  plans  of  campaign 
and  numbers  were  known  to  their  opponents.  Their  power  was 
easily  gauged;  resistance  was  more  violent  and  determined,  the  subr.le 
agencies  of  diplomacy  and  arbitration,  of  argument  and  appeal, 
found  but  a  limited  sphere  of  activity. 

At  this  important  juncture  the  Knights  cf  Labor  came  into  exist- 


2C2  WEALTH    AKD    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

h 

ence,  introducing  secrecy,  strategy,  suasion  and  arbitration,  and  re- 
serving the  strike  and  boycott  as  last  resorts.  Local  Assembly,  No. 
I,  was  organized  in  Philadelphia,  December  i8,  1869,  within  sound 
of  the  old  "  Liberty  Bell,"  and  from  it  went  forth  a  new  declaration 
of  war  against  the  monarchal  system  of  labor  and  the  proclamation 
of  a  new  era  of  liberty,  peace  and  plenty. 

They  adopted  a  ritual,  and  the  name  of  the  order  was  kept  secret 
for  many  months.  After  the  organization  of  some  twenty  local 
assemblies,  principally  in  Pennsylvania,  delegates  w^ere  sent  to  organ- 
a  District  Assembly.     It  was  accomplished  December  25,  1873. 

Local  Assemblies,  and  their  respective  memberships,  under  the 
protection  of  secrecy,  increased  so  rapidly  that  before  the  end  of 
1877,  fifteen  District  Assemblies  had  been  formed.  As  before  the 
organization  of  District  Assemblies,  Local  Assembly,  No.  i,  had  been 
considered  as  the  head  of  the  Order,  so,  District  Assembly,  No.  i, 
was  for  a  time,  and  by  common  assent,  considered  as  the  central  au- 
thority. 

In  1877,  the  officers  of  District  Assembly,  No.  i,  "issued  a  call 
for  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the  several  District  Assemblies." 
The  convention  was  held  at  Reading,  Pennsylvania,  January  i,  1878, 
and  a  General  Assembly  of  the  Order  was  formed.  Uriah  S.  Stephens, 
to  whom  has  been  ascribed  the  honor  of  originating  the  Order,  was 
elected  its  first  Grand  Master  Workman. 

The  growth  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  has  been  both  steady  and 
rapid.  It  embraces  some  entire  callings,  and  a  million  of  men.  It 
proposes  to  secure  desired  results  of  shorter  hours  and  better  wages 
by  suasion,  conciliation  and  arbitration ;  and  to  introduce  the  strike 
and  boycott  only  as  extreme,  final  and  indispensible  measures.  In 
the  meantime  it  inculcates  the  principles  of  co-operation,  with  the 
ultimate  hope  and  intention  to  overthrow  the  present  wage  condition 
and  establish  in  its  place  an  industrial  system  free  from  perpetual 
antagonisms. 

Recognizing  the  existence  of  industrial  war  for  the  results  of 
production,  and  that  physical  violence  is  absolutely  interdicted  by 
civil  law,  it  has  seized  the  other  and  only  weapon  of  w^arfare — 
strategy — and  clothed  its  plans  and  operations  with  a  discreet  and 
necessary  secrecy.  The  local  assemblies  of  the  Knights  of  Labor, 
counted  by  the  thousands,  furnish  the  wage  workers  of  the  conti- 
nent with  opportunities  of  association  and  advancement  never  before 
enjoyed. 

And  yet  with  all  the  progress  and  success  which  has  characterized 
the  combination  of  labor,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  it  is  yet  in  the  form- 
ative stage.  The  Federated  Trades,  with  the  advantages  of  priority 
wield  a  powerful  influence,  The  Knights  of  Labor  appear  on  the 
field   with   advanced   methods   and   advantages   which   cannot   be 


CRISIS    OF    THE    STRUGGLE.  203 

ignored.  Both  cover  much  the  same  ground,  and  necessarily  tend 
in  their  exercise  of  prerogative  and  power,  to  conflict. 

It  is  part  of  the  strategy  of  employers  to  promote  by  all  means 
this  division  of  forces  among  employes.  But  the  time  is  near  when 
the  wage  earners  of  Americn  will  select  the  elements  of  power  em- 
bodied in  these  two  forms  of  organization,  unite  in  one  Grand  Army 
of  Labor  and  rally  around  a  single  flag.  When  such  a  union  is 
achieved  the  results  of  the  industrial  war  will  turn  on  a  single  point. 
Capitalists  will  struggle  to  maintain  7vithout  sustaining  large  detach- 
ments of  surplus  and  unemployed  labor.  Laborers  will  strain  every 
nerve  to  bring  every  possible  employee  into  their  combinations. 

Whichever  party  is  able  and  willing  to  draw  to  themselves  and 
care  for  surplus  and  unemployed  laborers  will  win  the  day.  Cap- 
italists may  be  able  but  not  willing ;  laborers  may  be  willing  but  not 
able. 

Will  it  devolve  on  the  third  party — the  party  of  consumers — to 
rescue  the  unemployed  and  poverty-stricken  from  that  miserable 
estate  which  makes  them  unwillingly  the  buttress  of  the  employer 
and  the  millstone  of  the  employee? 

But  we  must  close  this  section  by  calling  attention  to  its  purpose. 

We  have  observed  the  growth  of-  labor  combinations ;  the  mar- 
shalling of  employed  hosts,  intent  on  regaining,  in  the  f:rm  of  wages, 
their  birthright  in  the  natural  sources  of  wealth,  and  the  social  ap- 
pliances of  production,  and  in  asserting  their  admitted  rights  to  the 
resuks  of  their  labor;  birthright  and  rights,  unjustly  withheld  from 
them  by  capitalists,  through  customs,  constitutions  and  laws.  They 
do  not  ask  that  lands,  raw  material,  provisions,  machinery  or  money, 
severally  or  singly,  undergo  an  equitable  redistribution  to  them ; 
but  they  ask  that  their  rightful  interest  in  these  values  be  assigned  to 
them  in  wages.  They  propose  no  innovations ;  but  justice,  if  pos- 
sible, under  present  conditions,  they  demand ;  and  for  that  they 
have  organized,  for  that  they  will  contend. 

But  it  is  of  most  moment  to  this  demonstration  that  the  Supreme 
Intelligence  working  through  the  self-interest  concerned  in  these 
imposing  combinations,  in  conflict  with  other  powerful  combinations, 
is  extending  the  growth  and  influence  of  an  equitable  co-operative 
distribution.  When  men  are  bound  together  for  a  given  purpose,  a 
just  treatment  of  each  other,  an  equitable  distribution  of  what  is 
gained  by  the  combination  becomes  imperative.  As  regards  the 
distribution  of  wages  insisted  on  and  assented  to  by  all  labor  com- 
binations, the  principle  of  equity,  if  not  of  equality,  is  practically 
enforced  between  the  different  units  of  each  combination,  as  the 
same  principle  is  enforced  between  the  units  of  capitalistic  combi- 
nations. Disregarding  the  differences  as  to  capacity  and  power  be- 
tween different  men,  in  the  same  calling,  the  wages  of  one  man — 


2  04  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS 

Other  things  being  equal — is  made  the  same  as  the  wages  of  every 
other  man.  This  rule  is  proximately  enforced  in  every  one  of  the 
thousands  of  local,  district  and  national  combinations  now  in  ex- 
istence, and  must  of  necessity  be  enforced  in  other  and  vaster  com- 
binations yet  to  be  made.  While  it  is  competition  of  divided  factors 
which,  from  without,  crowds  laborers  together — competition  of 
employers,  employes  or  consumers — it  is  the  ethical  satisfaction  of 
an  equitable  distribution,  that  binds  them,  within,  to  harmonious  1  fe 
and  orderly  action.  While  it  is  the  expressed  purpose  of  labor  com- 
binations to  wrest  from  those  who  have  inconsiderately  vested  it  in 
themselves,  a  fair  proportion  of  the  world's  wealth,  and  distribute  it 
equitably  among  all  members,  it  is  the  unconscious  Miission  of  these 
combinations  to  play  an  important  role  in  the  establishment  of 
universal  justice  in  the  economic  domain. 


EXPLANATION  OF  ANTAGONISM.  205 

COMBINATIONS  OF  CONSUMERS. 

CHAPTER  VII.  SECTION  III. 

In  the  two  sections  just  preceeding,  the  combinations  of  producers 
embracing  employers  or  capitalists  on  one  hand,  and  employes  or 
laborers  on  the  other,  each  endeavoring  to  escape  the  losses 
of  competition  between  individuals  and  corporations,  but  continually 
strengthening  competition  between  larger  combinations,  and  inci- 
dentally inaugurating,  promoting  and  extending — within  their  re- 
spective combinations,  co-operative  distribution — have  been  portrayed. 
We  now  proceed  to  consider  another  factor,  more  numerous  and 
in  one  direction  more  powerful  than  the  productive  forces  combined; 
a  factor  which,  driven  to  activity  by  self-intsrest — the  desire  of  en- 
joyment and  avoidance  of  pain — is  exercising  a  notable  influence  in 
the  direction  of  co-operative  distribution.     I  "refer  to  consumers. 

It  may  be  inquired  wherein  the  interests  of  consumers  differ  from 
that  of  producers.  Their  interests  may  seem  to  be,  but  are  not, 
identical.  If  every  producer  consumed  what  he  produced,  and  pro- 
duced only  what  he  consumed,  no  antagonism  would  exist.  Such  a 
state  of  affairs  would  involve  an  industrial  independence,  compatible 
alone  with  existence  of  the  most  primitive  or  the  most  perfect  forms 
of  industrial  life ;  the  former  has  long  been  lost  sight  of  and  aban- 
doned, and  to  the  latter,  we  have  not  yet  attained.  An  explanation 
of  the  peculiarity  and  extent  of  the  antagonism  between  producers 
and  consumers  is  in  order. 

Industry  originated  in  the  unit  and  its  advancement  from  the  mo- 
ment when  each  person  isolatedly  produced  and  consumed  alone 
what  he  produced  has  been  one  of  progressive  aggregation  and  in- 
creasing inter-dependence.  At  present  the  productive  forces  do  not 
constitute  more  than  one-third  of  the  population,  but  consumers  com- 
prise the  entire  people.  While  large  numbers  escape  productive  labor, 
the  real  productive  forces  are  still  further  broken  up  into  small  detach- 
ments, each  of  whose  interests  and  opeiations  centre  around  a  single 
product.  On  the  other  hand,  consumers  of  a  single  product  embrace 
the  entire  community  or  nation.  This  statement  is  theoretically  true 
with  all  products,  and  practically  true  with  many.  While  those  who 
produce  matches  constitute  numerically  but  an  insignificant  portion 
of  the  population,  the  consumers  of  matches  comprise  the  entire 
nation.  The  producers  of  cotton  are  confined  to  a  portion  of  four  or 
five  States,  but  the  consumers  of  cotton  fill  every  city,  county  and 
State.^  Sugar  is  produced  by  a  small  detachment  of  the  national  in- 
dustrial force,  but  not  a  man,  woman  or  child  can  be  excluded  from 


2o6  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

among  its  consumers.  The  production  of  oranges  is  confined,  not 
only  to  a  few  localities,  but  to  a  few  persons ;  hut  all  classes  of  the 
population,  at  one  time  or  another,  determined  by  activity  of  want 
and  ease  of  purchasing  power,  consume  oranges.  The  producers  of 
leal  pencils  are  scarcely  recognized  in  a  population  of  60,000,000, 
bu":  there  is  no  one  of  a  suilable  age  who  does  not  use  pencils.  Not 
over  500,000  persons  are  engaged  in  railroad  transportation  in  its 
manifold  details,  and  yet  not  a  person  lives,  in  countries  where 
railroads  have  become  a  necessity,  who  does  not  directly  or  indirectly 
patronize  them ;  or,  in  economic  phase,  consume  the  services  ren- 
dered by  them. 

A  small  detachment  of  men  engage  in  the  production  of  fuel, 
light  and  water ;  but  entire  communities  are  consumers  of  the  pro- 
ducts and  services  rendered  by  the  producers  of  these  necessities  of 
life.  As  regards  all  forms  of  food,  clothing,  furniture,  places  of 
shelter,  the  same  proposition  holds  good. 

In  a  single  sentence ;  as  producers,  the  nation  is  divided  into 
many  small  detachments,  each  detachment  gathered  about  a  single 
industry  and  separated  into  two  general  divisions,  laborers  and 
capitalists  :  as  consumers,  the  entire  population  is  a  unit  inspired 
by  a  single  purpose — abundance  of  commodity  for  the  least  expen- 
diture of  effort. 

It  has  become  the  function  of  each  one  of  these  detachments, 
having  been  permitted  by  the  nation — consumers — to  appropriate 
the  natural  sources  of  a  particular  commodity  and  the  social  means 
of  its  production,  to  supply  the  entire  community  therewith ;  but 
through  the  supply  and  under  its  cover  it  assumes  a  right  to  exact 
and  draw  from  consumers,  regardless  of  equity,  such  sums  of  money, 
as,  by  means  of  the  industrial  power  at  command,  it  can  extract.  It 
happens  thus,  that  the  country  is  dotted  over  by  the  bustling  camps 
of  these  isolated  and  organized  detachments  of  the  productive  army 
— competition  among  themselves  having  been  tabooed — ready  to  do 
duty  in  supply  of  the  wants  of  consumers,  but  even  more  ready  — in 
fact  straining  every  nerve — to  dispossess  consumers  of  their  pur- 
chasing power  They  embody  and  enforce  the  principle  of  robbery, 
freed  from  physical  violence,  on  the  industrial  plane. 

On  the  other  hand,  consumers  maintain  a  broad,  homogeneous, 
nationalized  solidarity,  incessantly  defending  themselves  from  the 
persistent  exactions  of  isolated  detachments  of  producers. 

The  struggle  between  them  involves  the  price  of  commodities ; 
producers  demanding  high  prices^  consumers  contending  for  loiv 
prices. 

But  why  this  conflict  ?  Have  not  those  who  produce,  the  exclu- 
sive right  to  determine  price  ?  What,  if  any  ground  of  right  or 
power  exists,  from    which    consumers  may    demand   a  voice  in  the 


RIGHTS    AND    POWERS    OF    CONSUMERS.  207 

establishment  of  price?     Consumers  possess,  in  the  important  prem- 
ise, both  fundamental  right  and  indisputable  might. 

In  that,  as  the  nation,  they  possess  a  sovereign  control  over  the 
sources  of  wealth  and  means  of  production,  and  in  the  exercise  of 
that  control  have  conceded  to  producers  that  indispensible  portion  of 
the  common  heritage  required  by  the  latter  for  effective  production, 
it  is  but  right  that  consumers  should  have,  in  the  interests  of  all,  a 
voice  in  the  establishment  of  prices.  Consumers,  as  a  body,  owe  it 
to  all  consumers — the  sources  of  wealth  and  means  of  production, 
having  been  assigned  to  different  detachments  of  producers — ^thatsaid 
producers  shall  use  them  to  the  interests  of  all  concerned.  Con- 
sumers are,  in  an  unmistakable  sense,  silent  and  interested  partners 
with  producers,  and  so  long  as  the  latter  carry  on  business  to  the 
best  interests  of  all  concerned,  consumers  need  not  interfere.  But 
producers  have  misunderstood  their  relations  to  society,  which  in- 
volve a  trust,  and  consumers  have  found  it  necessary  to  insist  upon 
their  rights  as  regards  the  establishment  of  prices. 

Consumei  3  have  not  only  the  right  to  assist  in  determintng  price, 
but  they  possess  the  power  ;  a  power,  however,  which  they  exercise 
usually,  with  reluctance.  The  boycott,  or  a  refusal  to  consume  at 
any  j)rice  is  a  weapon  of  no  mean  significance.  The  every-day  re- 
fusal to  buy  and  pay  a  given  price  for  a  given  product  is  too  common 
to  be  alluded  to.  It  is  a  personal  and  social  privilege  never  denied  ; 
but  it  tends  to  wither  the  life  of  any  industry.  It  becomes  the  boy- 
cott only  when  consumers  combine  and  enter  into  an  expressed  or 
tacit  agreement  to  consume  no  more  the  goods  produced  by  a  given 
industry,  or  one  of  the  firms  or  corporations  engaged  thereon.  It  is 
a  powerful  pursuader  and  when  entered  upon  by  all  consumers  must 
necessarily  paralyze  the  industry.  But  while  it  punishes  the  producer  for 
his  exactions — shown  in  low  wages  or  high  prices — it  brings  a  cruel 
and  needless  sacrifice  to  the  consumer.  It  is  destructive  of  com- 
mon interests  to  check  production,  and  folly  to  submit  to  the  ex- 
actions of  a  small  productive  detachment  of  community.  A  final 
and  effective  means,  in  the  hands  of  consumers,  of  eliminating  the 
oppressive  demands  of  producers,  is  to  relieve  them  of  the  respon- 
sibilities and  deprive  them  of  the  advantages  of  production  which  they 
incline  constantly  to  abuse.  The  power  so  to  do  is  involved  in  the 
conceded  power  of  any  nation  to  amend  its  constitution  and  alter 
its  laws.  Consumers — who  constitute  the  nation — can  limit  or 
annul  privileges  and  rights  previously  granted  ;  can  purchase,  con- 
demn, and  in  aggravated  cases,  confiscate  properties  claimed  by  in- 
dividuals; and  having  recovered  what  they  had  previously  dispensed, 
may,  through  that  instrument  of  consumers,  government,  continue 
production  and  dispose  distribution  according  to  the  dictates  of 
equity.     The  active  productive  force,  mental  ^nd  manual,  may  find 


2oS  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

employment  as  before,  and  adequate  compensation  from  govern- 
ment for  their  labor ;  at  the  same  time  they  would  be  deprived  of  their 
power  of  exaction. 

In  this  conflict  between  producers  and  consumers  for  high  prices 
on  one  side  and  low  prices  on  the  other,  the  former  stand  upon  their 
legal  rights  and  the  latter  upon  the  higher  law  of  justice  and  good 
will  to — all,  not  a  few — men;  upon  their  natural  and  conceded 
rights  to  amend  constitutions  and  repeal  laws. 

Since  the  disappearance  of  chattel  slavery,  since  production  has 
come  to  be  prosecuted  for  purposes  of  accumulation — for  profit 
rather  than  use — it  has  assumed  herculean  proportions. 

Up  to  within  a  late  period  a  single  circumstance :  viz.,  competition 
among  capitalists,  has  contributed  to  limit  the  exactions  of  producers 
upon  consumers  ;  but  the  declination  of  competition  among  capital- 
ists and  the  rapid  growth  of  combination  is  fast  removing  that  safe- 
guard of  consumers.     Let  us  suppose,  yet  further,  that  producers  of 
a  given  commodity — both  capitalists  and  laborers — combine,  as  they 
are  not  unlikely  to  do  in  the  near  future,  and   absorb,  through    pur- 
chase, the  sources  of  a  given  commodity  and  the  appliances   for   its 
production,  the  possibility  of  competition  and  its  value  to  consumers 
at  once  disappears.     In  such  a  status,  the  nation  of  consumers   are 
at  the  absolute  mercy  of  a  small   detachment   of  enterprising    pro- 
ducers as  regards  that  commodity;  a  situation  from  which  they  can 
extricate  themselves  only  by  the  boycott,  or  the  more  radical  measue 
of  destroying  the  power  of  producers  by   acquiring   their   materials 
and  plant. 

But  price  depends  as  yet,  principally  on  combinations  of  capital- 
ists, irrespective  of  their  association  with  laborers.  They,  increas- 
ingly, refuse  to  compete  ;  combination  of  interests  is  rapidly  ad- 
vancing, and  though  consumers  let  in  foreign  competition  by  repeal 
of  tariff  laws,  producers  will  extend  their  combinations  to  other  na- 
tions, as  capitalists  and  laborers  have  already  attempted  to  do.  Re- 
liance on  the  competitive  instincts  of  producers  will  become  in- 
creasingly more  futile. 

Consumers  already  feel  the  withering  power  of  various  detach- 
ments of  producers.  One  industry  after  another  is  taken  in  hand 
either  by  capitalists  engaged  in  actual  production,  or  by  outside 
combinations  which  corner  the  bulk  of  marketable  stock,  and  con- 
sumers are  continually  pressed  to  close  quarters  by  exactions  from 
one  quarter  or  another.  Some  of  these  raids  on  the  purchasing 
power  of  consumers  are  of  national  and  inter-national  significance. 
One  pool  has  for  months  shaken  the  wheat  market  of  the  world,  ad- 
vancing the  pi  ice  of  wheat  products  to  unnatural  figures,  and  draw- 
ing directly  or  indirectly  from  the  purchasing  power  of  every  family 
in  Christendom.     It  matters  not  that  the  pool   prematurely   failed ; 


APPEAL  OF  CONSUMERS  TO  GOVERNMENT.    ,      209 

it  will  gather  again  under  other  auspices,  and  with  stronger  forces 
unless  prevented  by  the  political  and  civil  action  of  consumers.  When 
it  is  not  wheat,  it  is  pork,  or  fuel,  or  hops,  or  coal  oil,  or  rubber,  or 
sugar ;  the  segregated  detachments  of  the  great  productive  force  con- 
secutively plan  and  execute  constant  raids  on,  and  make  wild  havoc 
with  the  body  of  consumers.  Once  in  a  few  years — the  years  1837, 
1847,  1857,  (the  war  of  the  rebellion  broke  the  continuity  for  one 
decade,) 1 87 7,  mark  these  movements  with  sufficient  accuracy — these 
combinations  conspire,  operate  in  unison  and  advance  prices  along 
the  entire  line  of  their  fortified  positions.  These  united  advances 
have  been  prolonged  for  two  or  three  years,  and  are  referred  to  as 
periods  of  "  good  times,"  and  have  been  followed  by  seasons  of  less 
activity  which  are  charitably  denominated  as  "hard  times";  the  real 
fact  being  that  they  have  been  "good  times  "  to  those  alone  who 
have  succeeded  in  turning  their  goods  into  money  at  high  prices,  and 
"  hard  times  "  to  those  who  have  parted  with  their  money  for  prop- 
erty at  high  prices. 

Against  these  predatory  raids  of  the  buccaneers  of  production, 
consumers  have  been  driven  also  to  combine  ;  and,  operating  through 
municipal  corporations,  force  the  government  to  relieve  them  from 
the  exacting  burdens  placed  upon  them  by  the  productive  hosts. 
Appeal  to  government  is  apt  and  proper  because  consumers  consti- 
tute the  nation,  and  government  is  the  constant  instrument  of  the 
national  will.  When  the  nation  seeks  defense  from  internal  or  ex- 
ternal assaults  of  domestic  or  foreign  despotism,  whether  they  be  of 
a  military,  political  or  industrial  nature,  it  is  meet  that  the  nation 
empower  government,  to  interfere  in  any  manner  or  to  any  extent 
necessary  to  attain  the  desired  result.  Consequently,  it  has  been 
made  the  duty  of  Representatives  of  the  people,in  municipal  councils, 
in  legislatures,  in  congresses  and  in  parliaments  to  interpose 
stringent  laws  against  the  permanent  exactions  and  desultory  levies 
made  on  consumers. 

Indeed,  the  platforms  of  political  parties  and  the  details  of  po- 
litical and  civil  life  are,  of  late,  interspersed  and  tinged  with  the  con- 
flict of  consumers  against  the  oppressive  exactions  of  producers. 

Water,  gas,  telegraph,  telephone,  transportation  and  other 
companies  or  persons,  whose  functions  are  the  performance  of  a 
public  service  or  supply  of  a  public  need,  are  incessantly  pressed  by 
the  general  body  of  consumers,  through  political  combinations,  for 
lower  prices.  In  the  progressive  decline  of  competition  among  cor- 
porations and  individuals,  appeal  of  consumers  to  government  is  the 
only  effective  means  of  substantial  relief;  and  it  is  probable  these 
appeals  of  consumers  for  an  equitable  distribution,  will  become 
more  imperative,  frequent  and  permanent. 

The  influence  of  consumers  upon  political  and  civil  action  is  in 


2IO  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

the  main  defensive.  Producers  have  not  only  grounded  themselves 
in  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  the  appliances  of  production, 
but  antecedently  and  concurrently  have  dictated  political  and  civil 
action  to  their  own  especial  advantage.  Producers  of  gold  and 
silver  have,  until  recently,  maintained  control  of  financial  legislation, 
demanding  that  the  value  they  embody  shall  constitute  the  exclusive 
measure  and  basis  of  national  circulation.  Some  producers 
have  appealed  successfully  to  government  for  subsidial  aid, 
while  most  of  the  productive  detachments  have  demanded 
protection  from  foreign  competition,  and  in  the  main  have  secured 
the  requisite  legislation.  A  protective  tariff  is  maintained  purely  in 
the  interests  of  producers ;  it  involves,  at  the  same  time,  the  pro- 
motion and  establishment  of  national  industries  and  maintenance  of 
high  prices.  On  the  other  hand,  free  trade  legislation  is  in  the  in- 
terests of  consumers  ;  involves  low  prices  of  commodities  and  neglects 
the  establishment  of  national  industries.  Protectionists  and  free 
traders  are  at  unnecessary  loggerheads,  however,  because  the  factor  of 
national  growth  is  not  taken  into  their  reasonings,  nor  does  it  appear 
in  their  conclusions.  Laws  that  support  protection  and  free  trade, 
respectively,  mark  two  successive  stages  of  industrial  evolution ;  the 
former  being  primary,  the  latter  secondary.  The  necessity  of  protection 
in  infancy  and  youth  is  undoubted  ;  but  the  necessity  decreases  as  one 
moves  on  to  manhood,  and  the  law  of  manhood  development  out- 
lines the  law  of  national  development  and  modifiedly  that  of  indus- 
trial evojution.  The  organization  of  industry — chattel  slavery  being 
abolished — begins  with  the  organization  of  capitalism  or  industrial 
leadership  ;  the  establishment  of  the  relation  of  employer  and  em- 
ployee. ,The  industrial  undertakings  of  capitalists,  are  of  paramount 
importance  to  a  young  and  growing  nation,  and  laws  to  support  and 
protect  them  are,  in  the  process  of  industrial  evolution,  at  first  as  in- 
dispensible,  as  are  subsequent  laws  to  protect  and  support  the  army 
of  employes  and  the  vast  body  of  consumers.  At  any  cost  to  con- 
sumers, the  development  of  national — home — industry  is  imperative  ; 
and  to  that  end  it  has  transpired,  that  producers,  in  protecting  in- 
fant industries,  have  up  to  this  time,  usually  carried  the  vole  and 
dictated  the  tariff  legislation  of  the  country  in  maintenance  of  high 
prices.  But  a  time  is  coming  for  a  turn  of  the  tide  to  low  prices 
and  increased  purchasing  power. 

The  growth  of  the  human  body  commences  in  the  brain  and  moves 
out  and  down  to  other  organs  and  structures.  Religious,  political, 
social  and  industrial  growth,  has  followed,  and  must  continue  to  fol- 
low the  same  general  course.  \  The  protective  legislation  of  America 
in  support  of  a  healthy  and  permanent  national  growth  of  the  in- 
dustries, having  nurtured  the  brain  of  the  industrial  organism — cap- 


FREE  TRADE  AND  PROTECTION.  211 

italisin — *  must  pass  on  to  the  bodily  organs  and  extremities.  The 
interests  of  laborers  and  consumers  can  no  longer  be  set  aside  with 
impunity.  The  brain  of  the  industrial  organism  is  already  too  fully 
congested  and  fat  to  remain  active  and  virtuous ;  and  employes — 
consumers — especially  unemployed  consumers — approach  a  con- 
dition of  inanition  which  bodes  no  good  to  national  permanence. 
Industrial  leaders — capitalists — have  had  their  necessary  and  some- 
what exclusive  day  at  the  common  protoplasm,  and  must  quietly  and 
humanely  yield  to  the  inevitable,  or  be  taught  by  the  superior  num- 
bers, growing  intelligence  and  crowding  wants  of  employes,  and 
consumers,  that  the  later  development  of  other  economic  elements, 
is  likewise  of  indispensible  importance. 

The  condition  of  the  United  States  Treasury,  shows  that  the 
policy  of  protection,  has,  in  the  interest  of  producers,  been  amply- 
maintained.  The  surplus  there  gathered  is  gathered  at  the  exclusive 
expense  and  to  the  economic  detriment  of  consumers.  These  vast 
aggregations,  excluding  the  influence  of  internal  taxation,  show  by  how 
much  less  the  consumers  of  the  country  could  have  supplied  their 
wants,  and  how  much  the  establishment  of  national  industry  has  cost. 
Though  the  growth  of  national  industry,  is  worth  to  national  devel- 
opment what  it  has  cost,  a  change  in  the  tide  of  growth  is  imperative. 

Free  traders  and  the  demands  of  their  constituent  consumers  have 
Hitherto  been  overborne  by  the  prior  necessities  of  industrial  evolu- 
tion ;  but,  if  not  through  free  trade,  in  some  way  the  demands  they 
have  made  for  low  prices  will  yet  be  recognized.  They  should  be  sat- 
isfied by. legislation  which  shall  compel  employers  to  distribute  em- 
ployment to  all  —  through  short  hours — and  yield  to  employes^ 
— through  wages — ^^from  the  aggregate  national  purchasing  power  held 
by  employing  capitalists*  enough  to  absorb,  at  home,  the  entire  an- 
nual products  of  the  land.  It  is  now  time  that  the  national  indus- 
tries, which  have  become  established  at  the  expense  of  consumers, 
should  begin  to  repay  in  full  to  consumers  all  items  of  outlay  and 
recoup  a  half  century  of  sacrifice.  For  various  and  ample  reasons 
continued  protection  of  producers  may  remain  a  salutary  public 
policy ;  it  may  be  best  to  preserve  the  industrial  autonomy  of  Amer- 
ica. But  the  desirable  results  of  free  trade — lower  prices  and  steady 
or  increased  purchasing  power — are  attainable  most  effectively  by 
domestic  legislation;  which,  by  reducing  the  profits  of  capitalists  to 
the  measure  of  an  average  compensation,  will  distribute  purchasing 
power  among  the  body  of  producers,  and  by  reducing  the  hours  of 
labor  gives  employment  to  all  able  and  willing  to  labor,  and  money 
enough  to  supply  their  reasonable  wants. 


*Caput,  capitalis. 

*3ee  concerning  the  source  of  purchasing  power — contents. 


2  12  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

It  is  probable  the  sincere  free-trader,  the  man  who  believes  in  and 
advocates  free  trade,  for  the  ease  of  circumstance  which  it  will  bring 
to  all  citizens,  will  find  the  key  to  his  future-  humanitarian  efforts  in 
the  new  lines  of  legislation  about  to  be  opened  up  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  so-called  labor  politics.  The  demands  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor  and  Federated  Trades,  higher  wages  and  shorter  hours 
present  in  a  more  practical  manner — a  manner  consistent  also  with 
industrial  growth  and  permanence  of  national  greatness  and  inde- 
pendence— the  real  demands  of  the  advocates  of  free  trade.  If 
these  demands  be  supported  by  public  sentiment  and  law  and  pro- 
posed results  are  realized,  the  patriotism  of  free  trade  will  have  been 
realized ;  and  except,  with  mere  theoreticians,  free  trade,  in  politics 
or  economies,  will  cease  to  be  discussed.  In  this  connection,  in  the 
increased  demands  and  combinations  of  consumers,  in  the  fact  that 
laborers  demands  for  higher  wages  and  shorter  hours,  to  be  drawn 
from  capitalists,  tally  with  the  demands  of  consumers  for  lower 
prices— higher  '^ages  to  laborers  is  the  same — in  the  decadence  of 
urgency,  by  public  men  for  free  trade,  and  increased  activity  among 
the  hosts  of  laborers  for  lower  prices  to  consumers — higher  wages  is 
the  same — is  to  be  recognized  the  commencement  of  a  new  and 
powerful  crusade  in  the  interests  of  consumers  ;  a  crusade  which  will 
promote  the  principle  of  free  trade  in  another  form.  The  con- 
sumers of  America  are  now  beginning  to  say  to  the  producers — a^ 
an  orchardist,  personifying  his  apple  tree  might  say  to  it;  'I  have 
spent  money,  labor  and  time  on  you  for  years  without  return,  and 
now  I  want  fruit ;  "  we,  the  consumers  of  the  country,  having 
given  you  access  to  the  national  domain,  encouraged  your  enter- 
prises by  subsidies  and  protected  them  by  tariff,  having  sacrificed 
ourselves  and  paid  high  prices  for  your  goods  that  you  might  estab- 
lish the  industries  of  the  nation  for  the  national  good,  now  demand 
the  benefits  of  our  gifts  and  sacrifices." 

The  movement  of  consumers,  for  the  most  part,  parallels  the 
movement  of  employes  ;  especially,  first,  as  employes  constitute  the 
bulk  of  those  consumers  who  also  produce  ;  paramountly,  second, 
as  they  have  a  common  grievance  to  be  settled,  with  combinaticns 
of  industrial  leaders — capitalists — whose  leadership  has  been  nar- 
rowed and  prostituted  to  private  ends,  and  whose  undertakings, 
based  upon  the  common  heritage  and  supported  by  common  con- 
cessions and  sacrifices,  have  been  regarded  solely  as  their  own.  La- 
borers and  consumers  have  an  inalienable  right  to  the  common  her- 
itage—to the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and  social  appliances  of 
production,  to  the  immense  values  which  have  been  produced  by 
powers — God  and  society — compared  with  whose  efficiency,  the 
power  of  the  individual  is  as  a  grain  of  sand  in  a  desert ;  an  inalien- 
able  right   also  to  those  values  which  are  the   result  of  their   own 


FREE    TRADE   YIELDS  TO   FREE  TRAVEL.  213 

labor.  These  values  constituting  the  nation's  purchasing  power, 
through  the  origin  and  successive  stages  of  industrial  evolution,  have 
— perhaps  necessarily  at  first — been  held  back  from  consumers 
and  employes  by  industrial  leaders  ;  held  back  from  employes  through 
payment  of  low  wages  for  long  hours;  held  back  from  consumers  in 
the  enforced  demand  of  high  prices.  Recovery  of  these  values,  or 
reinstatement  in  their  use  and  enjoyment,  is  the  unseen  cordon 
which  is  likely  to  bind  employes  and  consumers  together  in  common 
political  action  ;  action  that  will  tend  to  draw  full  employment  for 
all  laborers  from  those  who  hold  back  the  only  means  of  employment, 
and  ample  purchasing  power  from  those  who  have  massed  and  retain 
the  nation's  purchasing  power  about  themselves. 

Low  prices  demanded  by  consumers  and  high  wages  demanded 
by  employes,  both  drawing  from  the  accumulated  resources  of  cap- 
italists, place  them  both  in  a  common  category,  with  a  common  purpose, 
and  make  them,  within  the  nation  and  without  breaking  the  tariff 
defense  against  industrial  inroads  of  other  nations,  the  executors  of 
demand  for  low  prices  which  free  traders  have  continued  to  urge. 
Free  trade  involves  the  labor  of  "long  hauls  "across  ocean  and  con- 
tinent ;  a  waste  of  labor  which  the  principles  of  true  economy  do 
not  sustain.^^  The  better  national  policy  is  to  make  each  nation  on 
the  same  lines  of  latitude,  self-sustaining.  What  one  nation  can  pro- 
duce, another  in  a  similar  climate  can  produce.  The  German  Em- 
pire in  some  of  its  recent  exclusive  acts  is  emphasizing  this  policy  of 
national  independence.  If  "long  hauls"  there  must  be,  they  should 
be  on  lines  of  longitude  ;  from  the  tropics  to  the  poles,  and  from  the 
frigid  to  the  torrid  zone.  As  civilization  advances,  a  true  economy 
of  power  as  of  material,  is  likely  to  mark  its  progress,  and  with  the 
adoption  of  just  principles  of  exchange,  free  trade  and  useless- toting 
of  products  from  one  country  to  another,  will  give  place  to  freer  and 
more  extensive  travel. 

Let  us  return  from  this  general  view  to  the  specific  combinations 
of  consumers  and  their  influence  upon  the  ultimate  establishment  of 
co-operative  distribution. 

Consumers,  imitating  the  policy  observed  by  combinations  of  cap- 
italists and  laborers,  have  confined  their  operations  to  the  maxim 
of  "first  things  first."  Though  they  hold  the  power  through  the  bal- 
lot, to  overturn  existing  institutions,  and  at  once  introduce  a  better 
order  of  industry,  for  various  reasons  they  have  confined  their  oper- 
ations to  modifying  the  asperities  of  the  existing  industrial  mechan- 
ism ;  they  have  forced  government,  through  which  they  must  neces- 
sarily operate,  to  inspect  the  quality  and  quantity  of  commodities 
and  to  limit  prices  demanded  of  consumers.  Corporations,  companies 
and  persons  engaged  in  performance  of  public  uses,  authorized  by  pub- 
lic franchises  and  aided  by  public  funds  are  especially  amenable  to 


2  14  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS 

the  restrictive  policy  hitherto  adopted  by  consumers.  Political  plat- 
forms are  padded  with  their  demands.  Laws  are  enacted  by  mu- 
nicipal councils,  legislatures,  congresses  and  parliaments,  the  prime 
intent  of  which  is  to  suppress  the  exactions,  limit  demands  and  re- 
duce prices.  Prices  of  gas,  rates  of  water,  sums  demanded  for  car- 
ying  passengers  and  freights,  fares  of  city  railway  and  hack  companies, 
transmission  of  telegraphic  and  telephonic  messages,  elevator  charges 
for  wheat  storage,  cost  of  public  school  books,  tolls  upon  private 
roads  and  expenditures  for  all  public  work  and  public  services,  have 
each  and  all  pasjed  under  the  demand  of  consumers,  expressed 
through  public  sentiment,  political  action  and  statute  law,  for  low 
prices  ;  and  these  demands,  deemed  Ici^al  and  reasonable,  have 
been  supported  and  enforced  by  courts  of  final  jurisdiction;  state 
and  nation. 

What  consumers  have  done  toward  the  reduction  of  prices,  espec- 
ially as  capitalists  contrive  to  combine  for  higher  prices  and  large 
profits  they  will  continue  to  do  ;  they  will  continue,  in  furtherance  of 
that  self-interest  which  stimulates  production  and  consumption,  to 
press  for  lower  prices,  even  to  a  line  below  cost;  an  extreme,  which 
of  necessity  prostrates  production.  Unreasonable  demands  of  con- 
sumers may  sometimes  surpass  those  of  producers ;  but,  like  some 
detachments  of  producers,  prompted  by  the  sentiment  that  nothing 
is  gained  until  all  is  gained,  and  forced  by  the  law  of  self-preserva- 
tion and  self-interest,  they  may  have  felt  bound,  in  complete  self- 
defence,  to  pursue  and  push  oppressive  producers  to  the  verge  of 
destruction. 

However,  in  this  incessant  contention  against  the  cohorts  of  pro- 
du:tion,  as  a  necessary  motive  to  their  organization,  consumers  are 
driven  to  extend,  among  themselves,  the  operation  of  equitable  dis- 
tribution. As  they  co-operate,  in  vast  armies,  to  secure  lower  prices, 
their  unwritten  intention  is  to  supply  every  citizen  with  commodities 
and  services,  on  conditions  similar  to  the  best  conditions  enjoyed 
by  any  citizen.  If  they  secure  lower  prices  in  water,  gas,  transpor- 
tation, books,  tuitions  and  services,  each  citizen,  by  common  co- 
operative consent  among  the  combined  consumers,  is  entitled  to  as 
low  rates  as  the  most  favored  citizen  ;  each  labors  and  distributes  for 
all,  and  all  for  each. 

Here  let  us  pause.  Our  investigations  concerning  the  nature 
and  results  of  combination,  first,  among  capitalists  or  employers, 
second,  among  laborers  or  employes,  and  third,  among  con- 
sumers, who  constitute  the  entire  people,  convince  us  that 
these  combinations,  organized  primarily  for  competitive  purposes, 
and  to  subserve  the  ends  of  self-interest,  have  become  the  nurseries 
of  co-operative  disti  ibution.  While  they  contend  with  all  opposing 
nterests  exterior  to  them,  within  the   periphery   of  their   operations 


NURSERIES    OF    CO-OPERATIVE    DISTRIBUTION.  215 

they  amicably  adjust  and  equitably  distribute  the  results  of  these 
efforts.  Thus  in  the  midst  of  the  fierce  competition  between  com- 
bined interests,  struggling  for  the  results  of  co-operative  production^ 
the  principle  of  co-operative  distribution  grows  apace  and  becomes 
rapidly  practicalized  and  permanently  realized. 


2l6  WEALTH   AND    POVERTY   OF   NATIONS. 

THE     OUTCOME. 
PROBABILITIES    AND    POSSIBILITIES. 
CHAPTER  VIII,  SECTION  I. 

In  the  last  three  sections  has  been  outlined  the  growth  and  pur 
poses  of  the  two  economic  factors — producers,  comprising  capitalists 
and  laborers  on  one  hand,  and  consumers,  comprising  the  nation 
on  the  other. 

We  have  noted,  while  they  have  been  driven  together  by  self- 
interest,  that  they  might  contend  more  powerfully  for  the  results  of 
production,  they  have  been  compelled  to  nourish  and  extend  within 
their  organizations  the  very  principle  which  it  has  been  the  purpose  of 
their  combinations  to  shun  and  destroy;  viz.;  equitable  or  co-opera- 
tive distribution  ;  that  capitalists,  following  the  natural  law  of  evo- 
lution have  taken  the  lead  in  these  movements  ;  that  laborers  have 
been  driven  by  capitalistic  exactions  and  oppressions  to  combine 
later,  and  that  consumers  have  endeavored  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  exaction  of  high  prices,  by  political  combination  through 
civil  administration. 

It  will  be  understood  that  these  combinations  have  come  to  stay  ; 
or  if  temporarily  broken  or  shattered,  by  internal  faction  or  extreme 
conflict,  that  as  they  bear  in  their  unconscious  bosoms  the  living 
principle  of  industrial  regeneration — co-operative  distribution — they 
will  come  again,  in  greater  power,  greater  numbers  and  better  or- 
ganized ;  that,  until  they  fully  recognize  the  higher  law  of  their 
brigin  and  career,  and  adapt  themselves  to  its  madates,  the  industrial 
conflicts  which  they  wage,  will  intensify  and  extend. 

For  the  purposes  of  stronger  attack  and  more  efficient  defense 
these  combinations,  in  the  natural  order  of  industrial  evolution  will 
continue  to  grow  and  increase,  until  every  employing  capitalist  con- 
nected with  a  given  industry  has  pooled  with  every  other  employer 
of  the  same  industry,  and  until  every  employed  laborer  connected 
with  a  given  industry  is  gathered  into  the  folds  of  the  correspond- 
ing combination  of  laborers. 

The  two  camps,  then  fully  armed  and  equipped — capitalists,  few 
in  number,  but  buttressed  in  the  natural  sources  of  wealth  and 
social  appliances  of  production,  laborers,  by  the  thousands,  with  the 
indespensible  factor  of  production  which  they  embody  and  control 
— will  stand  over  against  each  other,  and  fight,  cripple  and  destroy  ; 
until  they  reflect  and  realize  that  each  holds  points  of  vantage  inde- 
spensible to  the  prosperity  of  the  other,  and  that  without  a  union  of 


FALSE    ECONOMIC    INFLUENCES.  21 7 

these  advantages,  both  capitalist  and  laborer  must  fail  of  achieve- 
ment. 

How  long  these  conflicts  may  continue  before  they  bring  the  wis- 
dom and  spirit  of  concession  and  humanity,  which,  sooner  or  later, 
must  and  will  appear,  it  is  beyond  the  ken  of  man  to  predict.  Too 
few, of  the  producers  of  wealth,  capitalists  and  laborers,  understand 
the  origin  and  development  of  wealth.  Economic  science  has  per- 
mitted the  capitalist  to  believe  that  he  rightfully  possesses  exclusive 
advantages  in  the  soil,  raw  material  and  the  means  of  production 
and  exchange,  and  teaches  the  laborer  that  wealth  is  produced  alone 
by  his  labor.  At  the  same  time  the  average  capitalist  falsely  be- 
lieves, and  will  tell  you,  that  his  success  is  due  to  his  own  efforts 
alone ;  that  other  men,  by  the  exercise  of  the  same  personal  ability, 
may  achieve  the  same  results. 

Neither  of  these  propositions  can  stand  the  test  of  equal  rights 
on  one  hand,  or  reason  on  the  other.  Nevertheless  they  fill  the  in- 
dustrial mind,  determine  the  industrial  action  of  both  capitalist  and 
laborer  and  exclude  a  rational  consideration  of  principles  and  facts 
which  should  bring  them  at  once,  on  common  ground.  But  both 
capitalist  and  laborer  can  and  do  see  something  of  the  failure  and 
destruction  which  their  conflicts  bring  upon  each  other  and  the  na- 
tion. They  will  as  these  conflicts  enlarge,  see  more ;  and  as  they 
see  and  reflect,  they  will  be  constrained,  in  furtherance  of  self-inter- 
est, to  take  such  action  as  will  mass  them  into  larger  and  more  com- 
prehensive combinations,  embracing  in  their  membership  doth  cap- 
italist and  laborer. 

CAPITALIST  AND  LABORER  COMBINED. 

The  union  of  capitalist  and  laborer  in  production  is  not  a  new 
thought ;  but  aside  from  the  impulse  ,  which  has  prompted  experi- 
mental enterprise,  involving  the  |  participation  of  laborers  in  the 
profits  secured  by  joint  action,  aside  from  the  limited,,  but  satisfac- 
tory results — business  and  humanitarian — attained  by  such  experi- 
ments,* a  resistless  power — the  power  of  self-interest — is  driving  in 
an  orderly  manner  the  produc  ive  forces — employer  and  employe — 
to  a  comprehensive  and  practical  union.  To  fight  each  other  is  be- 
coming destructive  and  expensive.  No  one  can  predict  the  pro- 
gressive details  of  such  a  union  ;  but  seeing  the  gathering  forces  he 
knows  there  must  be  fierce,  desperate  conflicts;  and  knowing  that 
capitalists  and  laborers  are  parts  of  one  ijreat  army,  that  they  are 
already  engaged,  throughout  the  civilized  world,  in  co-operative  pro- 
duction, which  is  disturbed  only  by  conflicts  concerning  distribution, 
knowing  that  after  each  battle,  humanity,  reason  and  justice  obtain  a 

*See  "The  Labor  Movement,"  McMill,  page  524  and  following. 


2l8  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY   OF    NATIONS. 

new  momentum  and  establish  material  results  and  better  and  more 
harmonious  relations  between  combatants,  the  ultimate  result,  through 
whatever  vicissitudes,  reverses  and  advantages,  defeats  and  victories, 
it  may  come,  can  not  be  doubtful.  We  may  well  regret  the  ignor- 
ance and  selfishness  which  incites  these  industrial  conflicts ;  but  as 
ignorance  and  selfishness  are  displaced  by  intelligence  and  good- 
will only  through  struggle  and  suffering,  it  is  useless  to  deprecate 
them.  We  can  look  with  ardent  hope  for  the  good  which  must 
follow. 

A  notable  event  in  this  connection  has  just  transpired.  On  the 
opening  of  building  operations  in  Chicago  for  the  season  of  1887, 
one  of  these  conflicts  between  employers  and  employes  was  precipi- 
tated. It  bid  fair  to  disturb  building  operations  throughout  the 
Middle  and  Western  States.  But  after  much  blustering  and  many 
threats  on  both  sides,  reason  and  mutual  consideration  gained  com- 
mand and  arranged  for  discussion  and  arbitration.  Thereby  one  of 
the  biggest  strikes  and  lockouts  that  ever  occurred  in  the  United 
States  was  brought  to  a  satisfactory  end,  and  a  permanent  combina- 
tion made  between  the  capitaUsts  and  laborers  concerned. 

A  Committee  of  Arbitration,  five  for  each  party,  and  an  umpire 
having  no  personal  interest  in  either — Judge  M.  F.  Tuley — were  ap- 
pointed. The  decision  which  was  reached  after  several  days  of  in- 
quiry and  discussion,  and  was  unanimously  adopted,  is  a  remarkable 
document.  The  terms  of  settlement  and  combination  are  shown  in 
the  following  extract  therefrom  : 

"  We  recognized  the  fact  that  the  two  organizations,  between  which  there 
should  be  bonds  of  good  feeling,  were  carrying  on  bitter  war  with  each  other,  by 
which  many  thousands  of  men  were  deprived  of  work,  much  suffering  and  pri- 
vation brought  upon  innocent  parties,  and  immense  pecuniary  loss  daily  sustain- 
ed; and  we  determined,  if  possible,  to  reconcile  the  differences  and  place  the 
relations  of  the  two  organizaticHis  upon  a  basis  by  which  strikes,  lockouts  and 
other  like  disturbances  might  in  future  be  avoided. 

"  We  found  that  the  main  cause  of  trouble  was  in  the  separate  organizations 
endeavoring  to  lay  down  arbitrary  rules  for  the  regulution  of  matters  which  were 
of  joint  interest  and  concern,  and  which  should  be  regulated  only  by  both  organ- 
izations by  some  species  of  joint  action.  We  therefore  determined  upon  and 
submit  herewith  a  project  for  the  institution  of  a  joint  standing  committee  for 
that  purpose.  The  article  providing  for  such  a  standing  committee,  elected  an- 
nually in  January,  and  defining  its  powers  and  duties,  shall  be  incorporated  into 
the  constitution  of  each  association. 

"  This  joint  committee  will  be  constituted  of  an  arbitration  committee  of  five 
members  from  each  organization  (the  president  of  each  being  one  of  the  five)  and 
an  umpire  who  is  neither  a  working  mechanic  nor  an  employer  of  mechanics,  to 
be  chosen  by  the  two  committees.  This  joint  committee  is  given  power  to  hear 
and  determine  all  grievances  of  the  members  of  one  orgmization  against  members 
►  of  the  other;  to  determine  and  fix  all  working  rules  covering  employer  and  em- 
ployes, such  as: 

"  I.  Minimum  rate  of  wages  per  hour. 

"2.  Number  of  hours  of  work  per  day. 

"3.  Uniform  pay  day. 


CAPITALISTS    AND    LABORERS  COMBINED.  219 

**  4.  Time  of  starting  and  quitting  work. 

"6.  Rate  paid  for  night  and  Sunday  work,  and  questions  of  like  nature. 

"  And  it  is  given  power  to  determine  what  number  of  apprentices  shall  be  en- 
ToUed,  so  as  to  afford  all  boys  desiring  to  learn  the  trade  an  opportunity  to  do  so, 
without  overcrowding. 

"  The  officer  known  as  the  walking  delegate  is  to  be  known  hereafter  as  the 
collector,  and  all  the  objectionable  duties  and  powers  of  the  office  have  been 
done  away  with.  The  steward  will  remaiarn  guardian  of  the  men's  interests  and 
mediator  lor  them;  his  arbitrary  powers  are  taken  away.  The  interests  of  the 
members  of  the  union  are  protected  by  the  foreman  being  required  to  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  union,  but  he  is  restored  to  his  position  as  the  employe  of  the  con- 
tractor, and  while  so  employed  is  not  subject  to  the  rules  of  the  union.  The 
eight-hour  day  has  been  conceded  to  the  workmen.  It  is  in  accordance  with  the 
State  law,  and  we  believe  in  accord  with  the  spirit  and  progress  of  the  age. 

"  The  question  of  pay-day,  whether  Saturday  or  Tuesday,  was  not  considered 
a  question  of  vital  importance,  but  it  being  one  of  the  questions  left  to  the  um- 
pire to  decide,  he  names  Tuesday  as  the  regular  pay-day  until  the  same  shall,  if 
desired  hereafter,  be  changed  by  the  joint  committee  on  arbitration. 

"  We  have  settled  the  differences  between  the  two  organizations.  While  every 
inch  of  the  ground  has  been  fought  over,  we  in  good  faith  determined  to  do 
everything  that  was  fair,  just  and  honorable  to  accomplish  our  object.  We  feel 
we  have  succeeded  without  compromising  the  honor,  the  rights  or  the  dignity  of 
either  organization,  and  hope  that  we  have  succeeded  in  establishing  a  basis 
upon  which  all  future  trouble  may  be  settled  or  prevented. 

A.  E.  VORKELLER,  ,  ThEO.  DREIBUSH, 

P.J.Minster,  "       Chas.  J.  Lindgren, 

John  Pearson. 
Arbitration  Committee  of  the  U.  O.  A.  B.  and  S.  M.  Association 
Geo.  C.  Prussing,  Wm.  O'Brien, 

Jos.  Downey,  Chas.  W.  Guidele, 

George  Tapper, 
Arbitration  Committee  for  Master  Masons'  and  Builders'  Association. 

Umpire,  M.  F.  TuLEY." 
The   contractors  have   struck  out  of  the   title   of   their  association  the  word 
"master,"  as  being  unsavory.* 

What  has  been  done  here  will  be  done  elsewhere.  Capitalists 
and  laborers  will  be  drawn  together  by  self-interest,  and  the  interests 
of  one  will  gradually  become  the  interest  of  the  other.  Through 
such  comprehensive  combinations,  the  parties  thereto  becoming 
more  intimate  as  time  goes,  circumstances  change  and  civilization 
advances,  the  combined  units  will  contribute  to  the  further  estab- 
lishment of  an  equitable  distribution  of  the  wealth  which  they  co- 
operatively produce.  Gradually  all  self-employers  will  be  driven 
into  the  ranks  of  employers  or  employes.  Employers  will  absorb 
those  self-employers,  capable  of  entering  their  organizations,  and  em- 
ployes will  absorb  those,  who,  having  parted  with  the  means  of  self- 
employment,  through  choice  or  compulsion,  become  employes. 

Each  and  every  industry — capitalists  seeking  their  own  interests, 
having  fully  combined ;  laborers  seeking  their  own  interests,  having 
fully  combined — will  become  the  arena   of  severe  conflicts,   until, 

♦Taken  from  John  Swinton's  Paper,  July  24,  '87. 


2  20  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS 

after  the  manner  of  the  Chicago  employers  and  employes,  they  be- 
come wise  and  tractable  enough  to  pool  their  issues  and  make  an 
equitable  co-operative  distribution  of  the  products,  perquisites  and 
pay  accumulated  by  joint  effort.  Conflicts  between  laborers  com- 
bined, and  capitalists  combined,  which  lead  up  to  the  final  conflict 
and  terminate  in  their  union,  are  unavoidable  except  through  the  ex- 
ercise of  that  knowledge  and  probity  which  as  yet  neither  party  pos- 
sesses. They  are,  however,  in  the  direct  line  of  an  orderly  evolu- 
lution,  as  are  the  ultimate  combinations  to  which  they  inevitably  lead. 
Were  all  consumers  producers,  or  were  the  producers  connected 
with  the  different  industries,  co-ordinated  and  harmonized  under  a 
single  purpose  and  a  common  control,  industrial  conflict  and  further 
combinations,  would  necessarily  end  with  the  union  of  capitalists 
and  laborers.  But  under  the  promptings  and  machineries  of  pri- 
vate enterprise,  each  industry  is  interested  in  its  own  promotion,  and 
each  regards  the  nation  of  consumers  as  its  lawful  and  appropriate 
victim  of  predation.  Each  industry  on  its  own  account  presses 
consumers  for  the  highest  prices,  and  consumers  are  placed  in  a 
constant  state  of  defense  against  the  exactions  of  the  several  detach- 
ments of  producers.  The  reader  will  easily  understand  also,  how 
much  more  powerful  and  effective  are  likely  to  be  the  demands  of 
producers,  when  capitalists  and  laboiers  are  combined,  than  when 
they  are  wasting  their  strength  in  contentions  with  each  other.  In 
one  sentence,  when  the  capitalists  and  laborers,  engaged  in  producing 
a  given  commodity,  are  fully  combined,  nationally  or  internationally, 
consumers  must  deal  with  a  complete  monopoly ;  must  pay  prices 
demanded,  cease  to  consume,  or  contend  for  lower  prices  through 
the  most  effective  measures. 

CAPITALIST,    LABORER    AND    CONSUMER    COMBINED. 

At  this  stage  of  combination,  consumers  of  a  given  commodity 
nationalized,  and  producers,  few  in  number  but  well  entrenched  and 
provisioned,  the  industrial  conflict  for  the  results  of  production,  will 
assume  massive  and  final  proportions.  No  grander  scene,  in  the 
progress  of  industrial  evolution  can  be  conceived. 

Producers  having  brought  commodities  to  the  perfection  of  use 
from  the  soil,  through  manufacture,  by  labor — mental  and  manual — 
are  in  legal  possession,  and  make  their  demands  for  compensa- 
tion with  a  declaration  of  economic  power  and  a  consciousness  of 
legal  rectitude. 

On  the  other  hand,  consumers — constituting  the  entire  people — 
make  and  unmake  constitutions  and  enact  and  repeal  the  laws 
which  have  given  economic  opportunity  and  legal  standing  and  pro- 
tection to  producers.  Once  incited  to  action,  their  power  through 
the  ballot,  is  irresistible.     Exclusive  opportunities  of  self-employment 


FINAL    RESOURCES    OF    CONSUMARS.  22  1 

and  emi)loyment  of  large  masses  of  men — unlimited  access  to  the 
sources  of  wealth  and  appliances  of  production — to  land,  raw  ma- 
terial, provisions  furnished  by  nature,  and  tools,  machinery  and 
money  created  by  society — have  been  derived,  by  detachments  of 
producers,  through  concessions  made  to  them  by  consumers ;  con- 
cessions revokable  by  the  same  powe^  that  made  them.  Can  any 
one  doubt  the  result  of  a  decisive  conflict  between  a  single  detach- 
ment of  producers  on  one  hand,  and  a  nation  of  consumers  on  the 
other?  the  former  entrenched  in  constitutions  and  laws  which  the 
latter  are  able  to  overthrow  when  they  will,  by  a  simple  use  of  the 
ballot? 

No  such  decisive  action  has  hitherto  been  recorded,  because,  as 
yet,  the  combination  of  producers — of  capitalists  and  laborers — is 
incomplete  and  inefficient.  They  have  not,  as  yet,  brought  that  force 
to  bear,  which,  when  combined,  they  will  be  able,  and  without 
doubt,  only  too  willing  to  concentrate  on  consumers.  Nevertheless,  the 
capitalistic  branch  of  producers  alone  through  their  intelligence  and 
power  of  rapid  concentration,  maintain  even  now,  an  efficient  and 
continuous  guerilla  warfare  on  consumers  ;  a  warfare  which  incites 
them  to  incessant  remonstrance  and  constant  counter-attack  and  de- 
fense. This  scattered  fusilade,  while  it  goes  on  to  no  magnificent 
proportions,  tends  to  induce  by  slower  processes,  results  similar  to 
those  that  must  inevitably  follow  a  massed  and  decisive  conflict  be- 
tween forces  so  combined  ;  such  conflicts  as,  on  a  smaller  scale,  are 
of  frequent  occurrence  between  capitalists  and  laborers.  By  degrees 
consumers,  who  proverbially  suff"er  the  exactions  of  producers  with 
the  patience  of  an  ass,  will,  nevertheless,  be  repeatedly  aroused 
thereby  to  renewed,  effective  and  extreme  action,  in  defense  of  the 
right  to  consume  at  moderate  prices. 

Three  or  four  modes  of  action  are  open  to  them  ;  first,  personal 
protest  and  public  opinion ;  second,  the  boycott  or  declination  to 
buy ;  third,  inspection  and  limitation  of  prices  attainable  through 
political  action  and  enforced  by  statute  law,  and  fourth,  reassump- 
tion,  through  purchase  or  condemnation,  of  the  material  and  means 
of  production  and  the  establishment  of  public  enterprise  for  the  com- 
mon good.     With  the  fourth  and  final  measure  we  have  here  to  do. 

The  proposition  to  take  away  from  producers  materials  and  means 
of  production  which  they  have  used  without  regard  to  the  interests 
of  consumers  and  the  establishment  thereon  of  public  enterprise  for 
the  common  good,  is  a  proposition  of  the  most  effective  nature;  ef- 
fective as  a  continued  menace  to  producers  that  they  must  moderate 
their  demands  or  lose  their  privileges  and  rights ;  effective,  if  exe- 
cuted, in  carrying  prices  through  public  management,  to  the  equit- 
able line  of  cost^  and  especially  eff'ective,  that  it  must  bring  producers 
and  consumers  into  one  common  combination  where  their  respect  ive 


22  2  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

interests  are  fully  conserved,  and  in  which  co-operative  distribution 
is  placed  side  by  side  with  co-operative  production.  It  is  the  final 
resort  of  conservative  slow-going  consumers  ;  but  when  undertaken, 
it  strikes  the  leaders  of  production  from  the  responsible  management 
of  industry,  and  permanently  eliminates  their  power  to  advance 
prices  upon  defenseless  masses.  Consumers,  by  assuming  the  dis- 
tinct responsibility  of  providing  for  themselves,  advance  into  a  con- 
dition of  industrial  liberty  realized  by  the  single  individual — person- 
ification of  complete  liberty — who  isolatedly  produces  what  he 
consumes,  and  consumes  only  what  he  produces. 

Men  prate  of  industrial  liberty,*  and  millions  long  for  it  as  they 
long  for  peace,  rest,  heaven.  It  is  possible  for  all  only  under  two 
conditions ;  first,  before  society  has  taken  the  first  step  toward  or- 
ganization ;  and  second,  when  and  after,  society  being  completely 
organized,  industrial  affairs  have  passed  from  individual  or  private 
control,  to  collective  or  public  management.  In  the  first  condition 
it  is  independent  liberty  ;  in  the  second,  it  is  interdependent  liberty. 
When  each  citizen,  having  secured,  with  all  other  citizens,  a  propor- 
tional interest  in  all  production,  becomes,  through  society — like  the 
primitive,  isolated  individual — a  producer  of  what  he  consumes  and 
consumes  only  what  he  produces,  he  becomes  industrially  as  free,  as 
if,  in  some  isolated  portion  of  the  globe,  he  produced  alone  what  he 
consumed  and  consumed  only  what  he  produced.  Society,  thoroughly 
and  justly  organized,  can  alone  guarantee  permanent  liberty  to  the 
individual ;  but,  to  that  end,  what  it  guarantees  to  one,  it  must 
guarantee  to  all.  Through  an  orderly  evolution,  liberty  of  each  con- 
sumer is  attainable ;  liberty  and  social  interdependence,  richer  and 
more  complete  than  is  liberty  and  isolated  independence,  as  organized 
society  is  richer  and  more  potent  than  the  individual. 

The  power  of  consumers,  when  brought  into  action  is  equal  to 
the  achievement  of  results  so  desirable,  but  the  too  general  igno- 
rance and  inertia  of  consumers  leaves  them  to  the  freebooting  ten- 
dency of  producers.  When  a  majority  of  the  people  become,  as 
regards  industrial  affairs,  more  intelligent  and  active,  and  less  indiffer- 
ent to  the  abuses  continually  put  upon  them,  consumption  being 
already,  production  will  become  rapidly,  nationalized.  As  the  prim- 
itive points  of  ossification  in  growing  bone,  approximate  each  other 
and  finally  coalesce,  separate  detachments  of  producers  may  yet 
follow  a  similar  process. 

*And  some  talk  of  industrial  independence  :  It  is  a  pure  myth,  maintainable  ia 
no  stage  or  condition  of  society.  Place  a  man  alone  in  the  Oarden  of  Eden,  he 
may  then  become  independent  of  other  men,  but  not  of  nature,  the  planet,  the  solar 
system,  God.  Place  a  man  so  far  above  other  men  that  he  may  ride  on  their  heads 
and  live  freely  from  their  labor,  and  he  becomes  proximately  independent— but  his 
independence  is  acheived  by  destroying  the  liberty  of  others.  This  proximate  in- 
dependence is  what  a  few  of  the  citizens  of  America  now  exercise,—  what  all  are 
selfishly  striving  to  attain  but  never  will  attain— while  the  balance  are  proportion, 
ally  enslaved.  A  just  inter-dependent  liberty  is  the  highest  attainable  form  of 
liberty  in  any  phase  or  stage  of  national  growth. 


CAPITALISTS,  LABORERS  AND  CONSUMERS  COMBINED.  223 

The  absorption  of  productive  detachments  through  the  political 
action  of  consumers  involves  the  union  of  capitalists,  laborers  and 
consumers  in  a  single — national — combination  under  the  elected — 
government — control.  It  is  to  this  final  combination  that  the  lower 
forces  are  carrying  the  evolution  of  industry ;  with  what  rapidity  is 
to  be  determined  by  capitalistic  leaders  of  the  productive  forces. 
The  rapid  organization  and  incessant  aggressions  of  producers  con- 
stitute the  effective  stimulus  which  is  calculated  to  arouse  consumers 
to  defensive  activity  and  the  application  of  the  most  effective  meas- 
ures of  protection.  Withholding  the  goad,  will  lure  them  into  secur- 
ity and  delay  their  action. 

On  the  contrary,  as  to  the  cost  of  commodities  and  services,  con- 
sumers are  becoming  more  intelligent,  and  the  success  of  experi- 
ments already  undertaken,  tending  to  relieve  them  of  exhorbitant 
prices  will  give  additional  momentum  to  final  action  for  permanent 
relief.  These  experiments,  combining  industrial  leaders,  laborers 
and  consumers  in  a  national  pool,  with  its  measures  of  relief  out- 
lined and  enforced  by  law*,  are  embodied  in  the  term  public  enter- 
prise. In  all  civilized  nations  a  number  of  industries  have  been 
originated,  owned  and  controled  by  consumers,  or  having  originated 
in  private  enterprise,  have  been  taken  from  the  hands  of  private  pro- 
ducers and  managed  by  government  in  the  interests  of  consumers. 
Consumers  in  Australia  at  first  pooled  the  interest  of  capitalists, 
laborers  and  consumers,  in  telegraph  and  railway  facilities,  and 
though  the  cost  of  construction  may  have  exceeded  the  necessary 
cost,  the  disbursements  have  gone  to  the  general  community,  and 
transportation  and  transmission  come  to  all  consumers  at  cost.  The 
profits  are  not  building  up  a  monied  aristocracy,  as  is  the  case  in 
America ;  a  public  consideration  in  itself  of  great  moment. 

The  German  Empire,  in  addition  to  purchase  and  management  of 
telegraphs  and  railways,  has  entered  the  arena  of  insurance,  with  the 
satisfaction  that  the  price  of  insurance  comes  to  patrons  at  cost,  and 
the  business  does  not  make  a  few  men  rich  at  expense  of  com- 
munity. 

English  patrons  of  the  telegraph  lines  induced  government  to 
acquire  and  take  charge  of  the  system;  and  telegraphic  facilities  there 
are  rendered  at  exceedingly  low  prices. 

In  America,  owing  to  the  opportunities  yet  open  for  settlement  on 
the  soil,  and  easy  escape  from  exactions  of  producing  capitalists  and 
laborers,  consumers  have  not  yet  been  goaded  to  assume  the  respon- 
sibility of  production  to  the  extent  noted  in  other  countries;  but 
here  transportation  of  letters,  magazines  and  books,  and  in  a  smal  1 
way,  of  all  kinds  of  goods,  as  well  as  exchange,  have  been  under  - 
taken  by  government.  The  productive  forces  of  the  nation  are  full  y 
employed  in  these  enterprises,  but  without  the  managerial  exaction  s 


2  24  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

which,  anterior  to  establishment  of  the  Post-Office  Department,  were 
extortionate.     What  these  services  cost,  the  people  pay ;  but  to  the 
government,  no  profit,  interest  or  rent.     The  education  of  children 
and    youth    in    its  various  forms  and  phases,  is  largely  the    work  of 
public  enterprise,  undertaken,  among  other  reasons,  to  increase  the 
efificiency  and  decrease  the  price  of  educational  facilities.     As  large 
profits  on  educational  enterprise  would  tend  to  promote  and  extend 
ignorance  and  vice,  the  work  could  not  be  left  to  the  money-getting 
genius  of  private  enterprise.     Here  and  there  in  the  important  mat- 
ters of   water  and  light,  producers  have  so  crowded    consumers    for 
high  prices  and  large  profits,  that  the  latter  have  been  forced  in  self- 
defense,  to  take  on  themselves,  through  municipal  corporations,  the 
responsibility    and    cost  of  supply  to  their  own    wants*.     In  many 
communities    consumers  are  pondering  the  proposition    of  bringing 
themselves  relief  from  the  extortions  of  producers.     While  inspection 
and   limitation    promises    much  and   has  done   something   towards 
forcing  productive  detachments  to  moderate  prices,  so  expert  are  the 
latter   in  evading  laws  of  limitation,  that   consumers,  for   their  ne- 
glected interests,  are   rapidly  crystalizing   to  the   thought  that  steps 
must  be  taken,  sooner  or  later,  to  place  important  industries  under 
government  ownership  and  control.     New  consolidations    of  produ- 
cers, increasing  avoidance  of  competitive   prices  and    unscrupulous 
evasion  of  laws  of  inspection  and  limitation   are  inciting  stimuli  to 
decisive,  radical   and  sweeping  action.     To  this  end   in  the  United 
States  and  other  civilized  countries,  a  new  political  partyf  is  spring- 
ing into  life  and  power  ;  a  party  which  makes  an  open  and  unqual- 
ified   demand,  as  regards  important  industries,  for  the    final   combi- 
nation of  producers  and  consumers  through  public  enterprise  under 
government  control ;  ultimate  combinations,  especially  on  telegraphic 
facilities  and  railway  transportation.     Inasmuch  as  the  net  profit  of 
these  two  industries  draws  from  consumers  in  high  prices,  an  annual 
sum,  equal  to  the  gross  revenue   of  the  government,  the  abatement 
of  this  monstrous  taxation  to  that  extent,  will  be  recognized  as  con- 
stituting no  inconsiderable  boon  to  consumers. 

Thus  under  the  continued  pressure  for  large  profits  and  high 
prices  by  capitalists,  for  high  wages  and  short  hours  by  laborers  and 
for  cost  and  low  prices  by  consumers,  the  final  combination  of  both 

♦Supply  of  one's  wants  by  one's  own  enterprise  and  labor,  brings  commodity  to 
him  at  cost  and  industrial  liberty.    So  with  a  community  or  nation. 

f Labor  party  combinaitons  are  in  every  way  an  uncertain  factor ;  first,  as  regards 
their  power;"  second,  as  regards  the  results  on  consumers.  Following  self-interest, 
if  they  combine  with  capitalists  and  demand  high  wages  in  addition  to  ihe  profits 
of  capitalists,  they  increase  price  to  consumess.  But  as  yet,  for  the  most  part,  cap- 
italists and  laborers  maintain  a  strong  antagonism— the  influence  of  laborers— 
especially  political  influence— goes  with  consumers  for  low  prices.  The  Labor 
party  of  the  United  States  is  therefore  a  party  which  all  consumers  of  telegraphic 
and  transportation  services  (and  who  is  not)  will,  if  thej  respond  to  the  impulse  of 
intelligent  self-interest,  encourage  and  support. 


VIEWS    OF    HUMANITARIANS    REALIZED.  225 

producers  and  consumers,  under  the  national  pool,  is  taking  form 
and  moving  forward ;  and  with  this  advance,  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  assure  the  reader,  equitable  co-operative  distribution  is  assuming 
place  and  power  in  the  economic  temple,  side  by  side  with  produc- 
tion, which  has  so  long  been  co-operative.  He  knows  that  under 
equitable  conditions,  so  established,  every  citizen,  regardless  of 
station  or  condition,  must  receive  for  his  dollar  the  same  amount  of 
commodity  or  service,  that  every  other  citizen,  under  the  same  terms 
receives;  that  government — producers  and  consumers  combined — 
carries  his  letter,  or  package  of  goods,  or  bill  of  exchange,  supplies 
his  children  with  tuition  and  books,  furnishes  him  with  water  and 
gas,  and  would  if  it  were  empowered,  transmit  his  telegrams  and 
transport  himself  and  his  goods,  not  only  at  the  lowest  prices  possi- 
ble, but  at  the  same  price  that  similar  services  are  performed  for,  and 
similar  commodities  supplied  to,  other  citizens ;  he  knows  by  means 
of  a  final  combination  of  producers  and  consumers,  through  public 
enterprise,  conducted  for  the  public  good  by  the  instrument  of  public 
affairs — government — his  industrial  liberty  and  equality  as  a  man  with 
other  men,  must  receive  a  full  recognition  and  an  effective  enforc- 
ment ;  and  that,  freed  from  the  vampirism  of  private  enterprise,  he 
must  acquire  the  liberty  of  interdependence — industrial,  civil,  polit- 
ical and  religious,  one  in  all  and  all  in  one — to  which,  hitherto,  he 
has  been  a  stranger. 

That  noble  and  illustrious  cohort  of  humanitarians,  and  the  ad- 
vanced guards  who  have  pioneered  the  economic  thought  of  the 
world,  will,  also  in  this  massive  and  co-operative  combination  of  pro- 
ducers and  consumers  secure  the  results  of  their  labors,  and  realize 
their  well-supported  theories.  Mill,  Wallace  and  George  will  see  the 
pernicious  consequences  of  land  ownership — speculation  and  rent — 
gradually  melt  away  as  snow-banks  in  the  sun  ;  Proudhon  will  find 
the  robbery  of  profit  practically  eliminated ;  the  lon^  line  of 
prophets  and  sages  who,  for  aeons,  have  denounced  interest  and 
usury  as  an  economic  atrocity,  will  note  the  close  of  its  covetous 
career,  and  the  beginning  of  that  better  time  when  the  Brotherhood 
of  man  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God  shall  become  established,  may 
be  descried  in  the  near  and  looming  future. 


2  26  WEALTH    AND    POVERTY    OF    NATIONS. 

THE  RELIGIO-SOCIAL  FORCES. 

CHAPTER  VIII.  SECTION  11. 

What  the  individual,  lower  and  selfish  forces,  acting  within  man 
and  under  the  restraint  of  law,  will  accomplish  toward  his  elevation 
and  the  betterment  of  his  physical  conditions  is  the  difficult  problem 
of  industrial  evolution. 

Have  we  not  seen,  however,  that  they  are  drifting  the  nation  into 
industrial  organizations  whose  working  must  moderate  or  eliminate 
many  of  the  current  miseries  of  humanity,  and  make  life  to  all 
worth  the  living  ?  Is  it  not  clear  that  self-interest  will  demand  the 
more  or  less  complete  combination  of  capitalists  on  one  hand,  and 
of  laborers  on  the  other,  and  that  consumers,  in  self-defense,  will  be 
forced  to  combine  for  the  sake  of  moderating  or  destroying  the  mis- 
used powers  of  producers  ?  Is  it  not  clear,  providing  capitalists  and 
laborers,  constituting  the  productive  force,  pool  their  issues  and  press 
with  grievous  power,  as  combination  will  enable  them  to  do,  on  the 
rights  of  consumers,  that  the  latter  will  be  driven  to  demand  the  final, 
most  beneficent  and  resultful  combination,  including,  under  collective 
control,  capitalists,  laborers  and  consumers,  in  a  single  national  poo? 
Is  it  not  clear  that  through  these  successive  and  accumulative  com- 
binations, commencing  with  the  partnership  of  two  and  terminat- 
ing in  the  partnership  of  a  nation,  equitable,  co-operative  distribu- 
tion, the  final  economic  desideratum,  derives  origin  and  attains 
national  development  ? 

~  Nor  does  it  matter  if  far-seeing  men  of  the  productive  class,  to 
check  the  drift  of  industrial  affairs  from  private  to  public  enterprise, 
shall  progressively  mitigate  extortionate  charges  for  commodities 
and  services  upon  the  body  of  consumers  ;  in  the  moderation  of  prices 
toward,  or  to  the  level  of  cost,  will,  nevertheless  mark  the  im- 
perceptible but  gradual  establishment  of  co-operative  distribution. 

But  all  organic  growths  are  effected  through  joint  action  of  the  lower 
and  upper  forces ;  and  human  structures,  individual  or  social,  can 
constitute  no  exception  to  the  universal  law. 

While  in  the  human  mind,  the  end  sought  to  be  secured  through 
operation  of  the  lower  forces — disregarding  corresponding  interests  of 
others — is  individual  gain,  the  end  sought  to  be  promoted  through 
the  upper  or  religio-social  forces,  is  the  benefit  of  all,  irrespective  of 
birth  or  condition. 

The  lower  forces,  deriving  origin  from  the  individual,  confine 
their  operations  partially  and  to  the  particular;  while  the  upper  forces, 
emanating  from  the  expanding  entity  called  society  and  the  infinite 


EQUALIZING    POWER    OF    HUMAN    SYMPATHY.  227 

entity  called  God,  operate  in  the  general,  and  through  the  general, 
descend  impartially  upon  the  particular.  The  former  would  draw 
all  to  the  single  individual;  the  latter,  when  in  unobstructed  operation, 
would  distribute  to  each  and  all  alike.  God  pours  heat,  sunshine 
and  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust,  and  society,  as  it  develops  from 
the  characteristics  of  the  individual  from  which  it  originated,  and 
moves  forward  to  become  the  embodied  expression  of  Infinite  Love 
— vox  popnli  vox  del — will  confer  the  powers  and  benefits  it  com- 
mands, in  an  equally  impartial  manner. 

However,  it  is  in  the  nature  of  vast  engineries,  to  operate  with 
impartiality  on  infinitesmal  bodies.  How  could  the  earth  be 
flooded  with  rain  unless  it  fell  impartially  on  just  and  unjust,  contig- 
uously inhabiting  a  given  surface?  The  appliances  for  discriminating 
apportionment  are  evidently  wanting  on  the  infinite  plane  ;  and  as 
society  advances  to  its  fullest  and  noblest  development,  discrimina- 
tion and  privilege  will  progressively  give  way  to  the  strictest  impar- 
tiality and  the  most  lational  equality. 

Injustice  is  a  concomitant  of  individualism ;  justice  both  a  neces- 
sity and  result  of  organization  and  collective  action.  If  we  continue 
to  grow,  the  sense  and  power  of  justice  will  increase. 

It  is  this  impartial  equity — equal  distribution  to  all  men  of  the 
sources  of  wealth  and  appliances  of  production,  enabling  every  man 
separately,  to  produce  what  he  consumes — or,  what  is  equivalent  or 
better,  co-operative  distribution  of  useful  wealth  which  has  been 
co-operatively  produced,  to  the  introduction  of  which,  on  the  in- 
dustrial plane,  the  religio-social  forces,  by  virtue  of  their  vastness  and 
extension,  are  irrevocably  committed ;  the  same  equity,  it  will  be 
noted,  to  which  the  lower,  narrow  and  individual  forces  are  also  car- 
rying, unconsciously  to  the  principal  actors,  industrial  evolution. 

But  in  another  finer,  nobler  sense,  the  upper  forces  are  co-oper- 
ating with  the  lower  to  aid  and  hasten  the  culminating  development. 
In  all  souls — in  the  soul  of  individual  man.  in  the  Soul  of  aggregated 
society,  in  the  Soul  of  the  Universe — perennially  moves  and  billows  a 
sea  of  sympathy  warmly  pulsating  with  affection  and  love,  and  ten- 
derly bearing  on  its  bosom  the  sorrows  and  miseries  of  the  distressed. 
In  some  souls  it  is  an  occasional  ghastly  glimmer ;  in  others  a  per- 
petually burning  ember  ;  in  all  susceptible  of  being  lighted  to  an  in- 
stantaneous glow,  carrying  gladness  where  but  glooms  sit  in  moody 
silence.  It  assumes  as  to  the  affections,  a  relation  similar  to  that 
which  imagination  maintains  to  the  intellect ;  as  imagination  wings 
its  flights  in  advance  of  philosophy  and  science,  sympathy  is  the  avant 
coureur  of  kindness  and  love.  It  is  an  extempore  substitute  for  slow- 
footed  justice ;  it  distributes  impromptu^  perhaps  indiscreetly,  goods 
and  benefits  which  considerate  justice  would  distribute  impar- 
tially. It  is  a  power  which  compels  men,sometimes,  to  do  through  kind- 


2  28  WEALTH   AND    POVERTY   OF   NATIONS. 

ly  impulse,  somewhat  of  those  things  which  they  ought  always  to  have 
done,  through  principle  and  law.  It  incites  the  disinterested  to  in- 
terest themselves  in  the  plaint  and  woes  of  the  despoiled,  and  it 
prompts  others,  interested  in  extending  and  enforcing  the  cruel  ten- 
dencies of  present  industrial  conditions,  to  pause  in  their  career  of 
extortion,  modify  their  demands  and  give  vent  to  their  benevolence 
and  distribution  to  their  wealth.  It  suffers  with  the  suffering,  joys 
with  the  joyous  and  fuses  humanity  into  one  man,  with  common  in- 
terests, hopes  and  fears. 

Toward  that  mutual  regard  and  kindly  consideration,  enjoined  by 
the  Man  of  Nazareth,  sympathy  incessantly  contributes.  The  rigid 
demands  of  custom,  the  cruel  exactitudes  of  business  maxims  and 
the  inflexible  arbitraments  of  law,  it  softens  and  bends  to  the  capaci- 
ties and  powers  of  man.  It  triumphs  through  mitigations  of  demand 
and  contributions  of  courage  and  coin.  Like  love,  it  laughs  at  lock- 
smiths and  the  obdurate  obstructions  which  separate  man  from  man, 
class  from  class  and  nation  from  nation.  It  buoys  the  hopes  of 
classes  oppressed  ;  it  stimulates  the  courage  and  energies  of  nations 
down-trodden.  To  the  peoples  of  Europe,  struggling  for  political, 
civil  and  industrial  rights,  it  has  carried  from  America  a  power  and 
l)restige  of  indispensible  import. 

The  operation  of  human  laws,  which  have  never  reached,  but  have 
contmued  to  approximate  the  standard  of  inflexible  justice,  it  has 
tenderly  blended  and  temporarily  adjusted  to  the  operations  of  higher 
ideal  laws.  Had  we  justice  we  would  need  but  little  sympathy  or 
mitigation ;  but  in  the  movements  of  humanity  to  better  conditions, 
the  demands  of  human  law  have  so  chasmed  the  march  with  cruelty 
and  injustice,  that  human  sympathy  alone,  could  bridge  and  render 
it  passable. 

Directly  or  indirectly  this  imponderable  but  substantial  principle, 
intermingling  its  incessant  operations  with  kindness,  afl"ection  and 
love,  imparts  direction  and  force  to  all  movements,  rapidly  culmi- 
nating in  a  more  equitable  distribution  of  the  world's  wealth  to  the 
world's  workers.  It  has  inspired  the  world-wide,  indispensable 
operations  of  organized  charity — which  returns  to  the  poor  somewhat 
of  whathas,  by  indirect  m.ethods,  been  taken  from  them  ;  and  has  con- 
tributed to  the  introduction  and  enactment  of  bankrupt  laws — which 
constitute  an  open  and  recorded  admission  that  frequent  failure,  in 
an  industrial  arena  where  power  rather  than  justice  bears  rule,  is  not 
only  unavoidable  but  equitable. 

It  is  these  upper  forces,  which,  untrammeled  by  human  institu- 
tions and  human  laws,  operating  from  heart  to  heart,  from  hand  to 
hand,  disregarding  the  sordid  calculations  of  self-interest,  overthrow- 
ing distinctions  pf  color,  class  and  caste,  carry  rest,  peace  and  com- 
fort to  the  destraught  and  despoiled;  it  is  these  forces,  which,  during 


CO-OPERATION    OF   ALL    FORCES.  229 

intervals  of  fierce  industrial  contention  and  on  fields  of  conflict, 
move  men  to  consideration  of  the  rights  and  interests  of  their  fellows 
and  advance  those  principles  that  tend  to  establish  industrial  justice 
among  both  producers  and  consumers ;  it  is  these  forces  which 
soften  the  greed-stricken  heart  of  the  capitalist,  and  cause  him  to 
concede  to  the  call  for  higher  wages  by  laborers,  and  lower  prices  by 
consumers,  which  inspire  the  laborer  to  consider  the  nights  of  toil 
and  days  of  anxiety  spent  by  the  employer  in  bringing  success  to 
his  enterprises  against  all  odds  of  competition  and  contingency ; 
which  prompt  consumers  to  pay  without  reluctance  such  prices  as 
will  give  both  capitalist  and  laborer  a  fair  remuneration  for  a  fair 
commodity  ;  it  is  these  forces  which  suspend  and  suppress  the  self- 
interest  of  capitalists,  laborers  and  consumers,  and  bring  them  to- 
gether, around  that  common  center,  that  just  equilibrium  of  price 
toward  which  mutual  consideration  moves  the  whole  community  : 
viz.  cost  of  commodity  with  equitable  compensation  for  labor. 

To  the  same  status  or  condition  then,  the  lower  forces  guided  by 
a  selfish  intelligence,  and  the  upper  forces  determined  by  benevo- 
lent impulse  and  intuition,  are  bearing  on  their  swelling  tides,  the 
evolution  of  industry ;  bearing  it  to  the  displacement  of  competitive 
and  the  progressive  establishment,  instead,  of  co-operative  distribu- 
tion, as  an  indispensible  principle,  side  by  side  with  co-operative 
production. 

With  the  determining  forces  bearing  to  the  same  point,  and 
toward  similar  conditions,  can  the  resultant  be  doubtful? 


L ,  ;^  ti_  4  ^^  ^^L^  —  ^-  -^^^ 


^(.. 


^^-V^^,..^^     ^^^^cJlt^t^a.^     ci^i.yit^^^l<^  ^^^^^^ 


^  WHICH  BORROWED 

'^^  book  is  due  on  the  last  W. 

^  on  the  date  to  which     ''^""^^^  ^elow  or 

— -Ifr^f^flf^jnix^^    recall. 


(BVafe^^^t'^^ 


rrn;5^^".^^3^  library 


